Integrated proximity sensor and light sensor

ABSTRACT

Apparatuses and methods to sense proximity and to detect light. In one embodiment, an apparatus includes an emitter of electromagnetic radiation and a detector of electromagnetic radiation; the detector has a sensor to detect electromagnetic radiation from the emitter when sensing proximity, and to detect electromagnetic radiation from a source other than the emitter when sensing visible light. The emitter may be disabled at least temporarily to allow the detector to detect electromagnetic radiation from a source other than the emitter, such as ambient light. In one implementation, the ambient light is measured by measuring infrared wavelengths. Also, a fence having a non-IR transmissive material disposed between the emitter and the detector to remove electromagnetic radiation emitted by the emitter. Other apparatuses and methods and data processing systems and machine readable media are also described.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation-in-Part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/241,839 filed on Sep. 30, 2005, titled “PROXIMITY DETECTORIN HANDHELD DEVICE”; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/240,788 filedon Sep. 30, 2005, titled “PROXIMITY DETECTOR IN HANDHELD DEVICE”; andU.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/600,344, filed Nov. 15, 2006 titled“INTEGRATED PROXIMITY SENSOR AND LIGHT SENSOR” which are allincorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the field of portable devices and, inparticular, to systems and methods for sensing or determining useractivities and responding to the user's activities.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Portable devices, such as cell phones, are becoming increasingly common.These portable devices have grown more complex over time, incorporatingmany features including, for example, MP3 player capabilities, webbrowsing capabilities, capabilities of personal digital assistants(PDAs) and the like.

Some of these portable devices may include multiple sensors which areused to detect the environment or context associated with these portabledevices. For example, U.S. patent application publication no.2005/0219228 describes a device which includes many sensors, including aproximity sensor and a light sensor. The outputs from the sensors areprocessed to determine a device context. The light sensor detectsambient light levels and the proximity sensor detects a proximity to anobject, such as a user's ear or face. In this case, there are twoseparate sensors which require two openings in the housing of thedevice. This is shown in FIG. 1, which shows a device 10. The device 10includes a proximity sensor 12 mounted on a surface of the device 10 andan ambient light sensor 14 also mounted on the surface of the device 10.Each of these sensors is distinct from the other, and separate openingsin the surface are needed for each sensor.

SUMMARY OF THE DESCRIPTION

The various apparatuses and methods described herein relate to anapparatus which senses proximity and detects light, such as ambientlight, and to systems, such as data processing systems, which use anapparatus which senses proximity and also detects light, such as ambientlight.

According to one embodiment of the inventions, an apparatus, which bothsenses proximity and detects light, includes an emitter ofelectromagnetic radiation and a detector of electromagnetic radiation.The detector is configured to detect electromagnetic radiation, such asinfrared (IR) light, emitted from the emitter when the apparatus isconfigured to sense proximity. The emitter may be disabled at leasttemporarily to allow the detector to detect electromagnetic radiationfrom a source other than the emitter. In this case, the emitter may bedisabled by turning power off for the emitter or by closing a shutter onthe emitter to block radiation from being emitted to the environment orby other implementations which prevent the emitter's radiation frombeing detected by the detector. In an alternative implementation, ratherthan disabling the emitter, the output from the detector may beprocessed, using known signal processing algorithms, to subtract theeffect of the radiation detected from the emitter in order to produce aresultant signal which represents the radiation from sources other thanthe emitter. This may involve measuring proximity first to determine anamplitude and phase of a known signal from the emitter (e.g. a squarewave signal with a known frequency and pulse width) and then subtractingthis known signal from a detected signal from the detector.Alternatively, if the emitter has sufficiently long “on” and “off”pulses during its square wave signal, the detector may be configured tomeasure ambient light during one or more of the “off” pulses withouthaving to turn off the emitter.

According to another embodiment of the inventions, a data processingsystem includes a proximity sensor to sense a proximity and to detectelectromagnetic radiation when the proximity sensor is not sensingproximity. The proximity sensor includes an emitter of electromagneticradiation (e.g. IR light) and a detector of electromagnetic radiationfrom the emitter when the sensor is sensing proximity. The dataprocessing system also may include at least one of a display or an inputdevice and also may include at least one processor which is coupled tothe proximity sensor and which is configured to determine, based atleast upon data from the proximity sensor, whether to modify a state(e.g. a setting) of the data processing system. The data from theproximity sensor may include data relating to proximity and datarelating to ambient light measurements or other light measurements. Theprocessor may modify the state of the data processing systemautomatically in response to a user activity, relative to the system, asindicated by the data from the proximity sensor, including bothproximity data and ambient light data.

According to another embodiment of the inventions, a method of operatinga proximity sensor, which provides light sensor capabilities, includesemitting light from an emitter of the proximity sensor, detecting,through a detector of the proximity sensor, light from the emitter, andsensing light, from a source other than the emitter, at the detector.The detector is configured, in a proximity sensing mode, to detect lightfrom the emitter to determine proximity. The detector may sense lightfrom a source other than the emitter by having the emitter disabled orby having its output signal processed to remove the effect of light fromthe emitter.

Embodiments of the inventions may also provide apparatus, systems,methods of use, and software related to a combined proximity sensor andambient light sensor (ALS). The combined sensor may include a proximitysensor portion that overlaps with an ALS sensor portion. The ALS portionof the combined sensor may include two sensors (e.g., phototransistors),one with a filter having a passband that only passes infrared (IR)(e.g., IR light), and one with a filter having a passband that passesboth IR and visible light (VL). The output of the IR sensor may then besubtracted from the output of the IR and VL sensor to produce a passbandthat only passes VL. This subtracted value may be used to detect ambientlight. The proximity sensor portion of the combined sensor may becomprised of an IR emitting diode and a phototransistor having a filterhaving a passband that only passes IR. According to some embodiments,the phototransistor and filter for the proximity sensor portion are thesame phototransistor and filter (having a passband that only passes IR)that is used by the ALS portion of the sensor.

Embodiments of the inventions may also include an anti-reflective fencefor the ambient light sensor portion and/or the proximity sensorportion. For example, a “fence” having a non-IR transmissive surface ormaterial may be disposed between the IR emitter and one or both of thephototransistors. The fence may extend to an anti-glare covering orhardcoat above the emitter (e.g., a covering on the very outside of thesensor or device the sensor is a part of) having refractive propertiesthat cause IR from the emitter to reflect back into one or both of thephototransistors causing erroneous readings for the proximity sensorand/or ALS.

Other apparatuses, data processing systems, methods and machine readablemedia are also described.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is illustrated by way of example and notlimitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which likereferences indicate similar elements.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a prior art device which includes twoseparate sensors;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a portable device in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a portable device in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a portable device in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5A is a perspective view of a portable device in a firstconfiguration (e.g. in an open configuration) in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5B is a perspective view of the portable device of FIG. 5A in asecond configuration (e.g. a closed configuration) in accordance withone embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a system in which embodiments of thepresent invention can be implemented;

FIG. 7A is a schematic side view of a proximity sensor in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7B is a schematic side view of an alternative proximity sensor inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7C is a flow chart which shows a method of operating a proximitysensor which is capable of detecting light from a source other than theemitter of the proximity sensor;

FIG. 7D shows an example of a proximity sensor with associated logic;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of inputs and outputs for logic, such asartificial intelligence logic, in accordance with embodiments of thepresent invention;

FIGS. 9A-C are views of user activities in accordance with embodimentsof the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a flow chart of a method that includes automated responses touser activity in accordance with embodiments of the present invention;

FIGS. 11A-F are flow charts of combinations of sensing to determine useractivity and performing automated responses in accordance withembodiments of the present invention; and

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a digital processing system in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a schematic side view of a combined proximity sensor andambient light sensor in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 14 is a schematic top view of a combined proximity sensor andambient light sensor in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 15A is a graph showing transmissivity verse wavelength for a coverin accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15B is a graph showing transmissivity verse wavelength for aninfrared passband filter in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 15C is a graph showing intensity versus wavelength for a visiblelight and infrared sensor output in accordance with one embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 15D is a graph showing intensity versus wavelength for an infraredsensor output in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 15E is a graph showing intensity versus wavelength for a subtractoroutput of processing logic in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 16 is a graph showing intensity versus frequency for an infraredand visible light sensor output in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 17 is a graph showing intensity verse time for modulated emitterradiation and ambient light in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart which shows a method of operating a combinedproximity sensor and ambient light sensor which is capable of detectingproximity of an object and visible light in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments and aspects of the inventions will be described withreference to details discussed below, and the accompanying drawings willillustrate the various embodiments. The following description anddrawings are illustrative of the invention and are not to be construedas limiting the invention. Numerous specific details are described toprovide a through understanding of various embodiments of the presentinvention. However, in certain instances, well-known or conventionaldetails are not described in order to provide a concise discussion ofembodiments of the present inventions.

Some portions of the detailed descriptions which follow are presented interms of algorithms which include operations on data stored within acomputer memory. An algorithm is generally a self-consistent sequence ofoperations leading to a desired result. The operations typically requireor involve physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually,though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical ormagnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined,compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times,principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals asbits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or thelike.

It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar termsare to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and aremerely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unlessspecifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussion,it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizingterms such as “processing” or “computing” or “calculating” or“determining” or “displaying” or the like, can refer to the action andprocesses of a data processing system, or similar electronic device,that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical(electronic) quantities within the system's registers and memories intoother data similarly represented as physical quantities within thesystem's memories or registers or other such information storage,transmission or display devices.

The present invention can relate to an apparatus for performing one ormore of the operations described herein. This apparatus may be speciallyconstructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise a generalpurpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by a computerprogram stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored ina machine (e.g. computer) readable storage medium, such as, but is notlimited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks,CD-ROMs, and magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), randomaccess memories (RAMs), erasable programmable ROMs (EPROMs),electrically erasable programmable ROMs (EEPROMs), magnetic or opticalcards, or any type of media suitable for storing electronicinstructions, and each coupled to a bus.

A machine-readable medium includes any mechanism for storing ortransmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., acomputer). For example, a machine-readable medium includes read onlymemory (“ROM”); random access memory (“RAM”); magnetic disk storagemedia; optical storage media; flash memory devices; electrical, optical,acoustical or other form of propagated signals (e.g., carrier waves,infrared signals, digital signals, etc.); etc.

At least certain embodiments of the present inventions include one ormore sensors to monitor user activity. At least certain embodiments ofthe present inventions also include automatically changing a state ofthe portable device based on user activity, such as, for example,automatically activating or deactivating a backlight of a display deviceof the portable device or setting an input device of the portable deviceto a particular state, based on certain predetermined user activities.

At least certain embodiments of the inventions may be part of a digitalmedia player, such as a portable music and/or video media player, whichmay include a media processing system to present the media, a storagedevice to store the media and may further include a radio frequency (RF)transceiver (e.g., an RF transceiver for a cellular telephone) coupledwith an antenna system and the media processing system. In certainembodiments, media stored on a remote storage device may be transmittedto the media player through the RF transceiver. The media may be, forexample, one or more of music or other audio, still pictures, or motionpictures.

The portable media player may include a media selection device, such asa click wheel input device on an iPod® or iPod Nano® media player fromApple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., a touch screen input device,pushbutton device, movable pointing input device or other input device.The media selection device may be used to select the media stored on thestorage device and/or the remote storage device. The portable mediaplayer may, in at least certain embodiments, include a display devicewhich is coupled to the media processing system to display titles orother indicators of media being selected through the input device andbeing presented, either through a speaker or earphone(s), or on thedisplay device, or on both display device and a speaker or earphone(s).Examples of a portable media player are described in published U.S.patent application numbers 2003/0095096 and 2004/0224638, both of whichare incorporated herein by reference.

Embodiments of the inventions described herein may be part of othertypes of data processing systems, such as, for example, entertainmentsystems or personal digital assistants (PDAs), or general purposecomputer systems, or special purpose computer systems, or an embeddeddevice within another device, or cellular telephones which do notinclude media players, or devices which combine aspects or functions ofthese devices (e.g., a media player, such as an iPod®, combined with aPDA, an entertainment system, and a cellular telephone in one portabledevice).

FIG. 2 illustrates a portable device 30 according to one embodiment ofthe invention. FIG. 2 shows a wireless device in a telephoneconfiguration having a “candy-bar” style. In FIG. 2, the wireless device30 may include a housing 32, a display device 34, an input device 36which may be an alphanumeric keypad, a speaker 38, a microphone 40 andan antenna 42. The wireless device 30 also may include a proximitysensor 44 and an accelerometer 46. It will be appreciated that theembodiment of FIG. 2 may use more or fewer sensors and may have adifferent form factor from the form factor shown in FIG. 2.

The display device 34 is shown positioned at an upper portion of thehousing 32, and the input device 36 is shown positioned at a lowerportion of the housing 32. The antenna 42 is shown extending from thehousing 32 at an upper portion of the housing 32. The speaker 38 is alsoshown at an upper portion of the housing 32 above the display device 34.The microphone 40 is shown at a lower portion of the housing 32, belowthe input device 36. It will be appreciated that the speaker 38 andmicrophone 40 can be positioned at any location on the housing, but aretypically positioned in accordance with a user's ear and mouth,respectively. The proximity sensor 44 is shown at or near the speaker 38and at least partially within the housing 32. The accelerometer 46 isshown at a lower portion of the housing 32 and within the housing 32. Itwill be appreciated that the particular locations of the above-describedfeatures may vary in alternative embodiments.

The display device 34 may be, for example, a liquid crystal display(LCD) which does not include the ability to accept inputs or a touchinput screen which also includes an LCD. The input device 36 mayinclude, for example, buttons, switches, dials, sliders, keys or keypad,navigation pad, touch pad, touch screen, and the like.

Any well-known speaker, microphone and antenna can be used for speaker38, microphone 40 and antenna 42, respectively.

The proximity sensor 44 may detect location (e.g. at least one of X, Y,Z), direction of motion, speed, etc. of objects relative to the wirelessdevice 30. A location of an object relative to the wireless device canbe represented as a distance in at least certain embodiments. Theproximity sensor may generate location or movement data or both, whichmay be used to determine the location of objects relative to theportable device 30 and/or proximity sensor 44. An example of a proximitysensor is shown in FIG. 7A.

In addition, a processing device (not shown) is coupled to the proximitysensor(s) 44. The processing device may be used to determine thelocation of objects relative to the portable device 30 or proximitysensor 44 or both based on the location and/or movement data provided bythe proximity sensor 44. The proximity sensor may continuously orperiodically monitor the object location. The proximity sensor may alsobe able to determine the type of object it is detecting.

Additional information about proximity sensors can be found in U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/241,839, titled “PROXIMITY DETECTOR INHANDHELD DEVICE,” and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/240,788,titled “PROXIMITY DETECTOR IN HANDHELD DEVICE;” U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/165,958, titled “METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR REMOTELYDETECTING PRESENCE,” filed Jun. 23, 2005; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,583,676,titled “PROXIMITY/TOUCH DETECTOR AND CALIBRATION CIRCUIT,” issued Jun.24, 2003, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety.

According to one embodiment, the accelerometer 46 is able to detect amovement including an acceleration or de-acceleration of the wirelessdevice. The accelerometer 46 may generate movement data for multipledimensions, which may be used to determine a direction of movement ofthe wireless device. For example, the accelerometer 46 may generate X, Yand Z axis acceleration information when the accelerometer 46 detectsthat the portable device is moved. In one embodiment, the accelerometer46 may be implemented as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,520,013, which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Alternatively, theaccelerometer 46 may be a KGF01 accelerometer from Kionix or an ADXL311accelerometer from Analog Devices or other accelerometers which areknown in the art.

In addition, a processing device (not shown) is coupled to theaccelerometer(s) 46. The processing device may be used to calculate adirection of movement, also referred to as a movement vector of thewireless device 30. The movement vector may be determined according toone or more predetermined formulas based on the movement data (e.g.,movement in X, Y and Z) provided by accelerometer 46. The processingdevice may be integrated with the accelerometer 46 or integrated withother components, such as, for example, a chipset of a microprocessor,of the portable device.

The accelerometer 46 may continuously or periodically monitor themovement of the portable device. As a result, an orientation of theportable device prior to the movement and after the movement may bedetermined based on the movement data provided by the accelerometerattached to the portable device.

Additional information about accelerometers can be found in co-pendingU.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/986,730, filed Nov. 12, 2004, whichis hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

The data acquired from the proximity sensor 44 and the accelerometer 46can be combined together, or used alone, to gather information about theuser's activities. The data from the proximity sensor 44, theaccelerometer 46 or both can be used, for example, toactivate/deactivate a display backlight, initiate commands, makeselections, control scrolling or other movement in a display, controlinput device settings, or to make other changes to one or more settingsof the device.

FIG. 3 shows an alternative portable device 30 a, which is similar tothe portable device 30 illustrated in FIG. 2. The portable device 30 ashown in FIG. 3 can differ from the portable device 30 shown in FIG. 2in that the proximity sensor 44 a (FIG. 3) is located at or near themicrophone 40.

FIG. 4 shows a portable device 50 in accordance with one embodiment ofthe invention. The portable device 50 may include a housing 52, adisplay/input device 54, a speaker 56, a microphone 58 and an optionalantenna 60 (which may be visible on the exterior of the housing or maybe concealed within the housing). The portable device 50 also mayinclude a proximity sensor 62 and an accelerometer 64. The portabledevice 50 may be a cellular telephone or a device which is an integratedPDA and a cellular telephone or a device which is an integrated mediaplayer and a cellular telephone or a device which is both anentertainment system (e.g. for playing games) and a cellular telephone,or the portable device 50 may be other types of devices describedherein. In one particular embodiment, the portable device 50 may includea cellular telephone and a media player and a PDA, all contained withinthe housing 52. The portable device 50 may have a form factor which issmall enough that it fits within the hand of a normal adult and is lightenough that it can be carried in one hand by an adult. It will beappreciated that the term “portable” means the device can be easily heldin an adult user's hands (one or both); for example, a laptop computerand an iPod are portable devices.

In one embodiment, the display/input device 54 may include a multi-pointtouch input screen in addition to being a display, such as an LCD. Inone embodiment, the multi-point touch screen is a capacitive sensingmedium configured to detect multiple touches (e.g., blobs on the displayfrom a user's face or multiple fingers concurrently touching or nearlytouching the display) or near touches (e.g., blobs on the display) thatoccur at the same time and at distinct locations in the plane of thetouch panel and to produce distinct signals representative of thelocation of the touches on the plane of the touch panel for each of themultiple touches. Additional information about multi-point input touchscreens can be found in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/840,862, filed May 6, 2004 (see published U.S. patent application20060097991), which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.A multi-point input touch screen may also be referred to as amulti-touch input panel.

A processing device (not shown) may be coupled to the display/inputdevice 54. The processing device may be used to calculate touches on thetouch panel. The display/input device 54 can use the detected touch(e.g., blob or blobs from a user's face) data to, for example, identifythe location of certain objects and to also identify the type of objecttouching (or nearly touching) the display/input device 54.

The data acquired from the proximity sensor 62 and the display/inputdevice 54 can be combined to gather information about the user'sactivities as described herein. The data from the proximity sensor 62and the display/input device 54 can be used to change one or moresettings of the portable device 50, such as, for example, change anillumination setting of the display/input device 54.

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the display/input device 54occupies a large portion of one surface (e.g. the top surface) of thehousing 52 of the portable device 50. In one embodiment, thedisplay/input device 54 consumes substantially the entire front surfaceof the portable device 50. In another embodiment, the display/inputdevice 54 consumes, for example, at least 75% of a front surface of thehousing 52 of the portable device 50. In alternative embodiments, theportable device 50 may include a display which does not have inputcapabilities, but the display still occupies a large portion of onesurface of the portable device 50. In this case, the portable device 50may include other types of input devices such as a QWERTY keyboard orother types of keyboard which slide out or swing out from a portion ofthe portable device 50.

FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate a portable device 70 according to oneembodiment of the invention. The portable device 70 may be a cellulartelephone which includes a hinge 87 that couples a display housing 89 toa keypad housing 91. The hinge 87 allows a user to open and close thecellular telephone so that it can be placed in at least one of twodifferent configurations shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B. In one particularembodiment, the hinge 87 may rotatably couple the display housing to thekeypad housing. In particular, a user can open the cellular telephone toplace it in the open configuration shown in FIG. 5A and can close thecellular telephone to place it in the closed configuration shown in FIG.5B. The keypad housing 91 may include a keypad 95 which receives inputs(e.g. telephone number inputs or other alphanumeric inputs) from a userand a microphone 97 which receives voice input from the user. Thedisplay housing 89 may include, on its interior surface, a display 93(e.g. an LCD) and a speaker 98 and a proximity sensor 84; on itsexterior surface, the display housing 89 may include a speaker 96, atemperature sensor 94, a display 88 (e.g. another LCD), an ambient lightsensor 92, and a proximity sensor 84A. Hence, in this embodiment, thedisplay housing 89 may include a first proximity sensor on its interiorsurface and a second proximity sensor on its exterior surface. The firstproximity sensor may be used to detect a user's head or ear being withina certain distance of the first proximity sensor and to cause anillumination setting of displays 93 and 88 to be changed automaticallyin response to this detecting (e.g. the illumination for both displaysare turned off or otherwise set in a reduced power state). Data from thesecond proximity sensor, along with data from the ambient light sensor92 and data from the temperature sensor 94, may be used to detect thatthe cellular telephone has been placed into the user's pocket.

In at least certain embodiments, the portable device 70 may containcomponents which provide one or more of the functions of a wirelesscommunication device such as a cellular telephone, a media player, anentertainment system, a PDA, or other types of devices described herein.In one implementation of an embodiment, the portable device 70 may be acellular telephone integrated with a media player which plays MP3 files,such as MP3 music files.

Each of the devices shown in FIGS. 2, 3, 4, 5A and 5B may be a wirelesscommunication device, such as a cellular telephone, and may include aplurality of components which provide a capability for wirelesscommunication. FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of a wireless device 100 whichincludes the capability for wireless communication. The wireless device100 may be included in any one of the devices shown in FIGS. 2, 3, 4, 5Aand 5B, although alternative embodiments of those devices of FIGS. 2-5Bmay include more or fewer components than the wireless device 100.

Wireless device 100 may include an antenna system 101. Wireless device100 may also include a digital and/or analog radio frequency (RF)transceiver 102, coupled to the antenna system 101, to transmit and/orreceive voice, digital data and/or media signals through antenna system101.

Wireless device 100 may also include a digital processing system 103 tocontrol the digital RF transceiver and to manage the voice, digital dataand/or media signals. Digital processing system 103 may be a generalpurpose processing device, such as a microprocessor or controller forexample. Digital processing system 103 may also be a special purposeprocessing device, such as an ASIC (application specific integratedcircuit), FPGA (field-programmable gate array) or DSP (digital signalprocessor). Digital processing system 103 may also include otherdevices, as are known in the art, to interface with other components ofwireless device 100. For example, digital processing system 103 mayinclude analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters to interfacewith other components of wireless device 100. Digital processing system103 may include a media processing system 109, which may also include ageneral purpose or special purpose processing device to manage media,such as files of audio data.

Wireless device 100 may also include a storage device 104, coupled tothe digital processing system, to store data and/or operating programsfor the wireless device 100. Storage device 104 may be, for example, anytype of solid-state or magnetic memory device.

Wireless device 100 may also include one or more input devices 105,coupled to the digital processing system 103, to accept user inputs(e.g., telephone numbers, names, addresses, media selections, etc.)Input device 105 may be, for example, one or more of a keypad, atouchpad, a touch screen, a pointing device in combination with adisplay device or similar input device.

Wireless device 100 may also include at least one display device 106,coupled to the digital processing system 103, to display informationsuch as messages, telephone call information, contact information,pictures, movies and/or titles or other indicators of media beingselected via the input device 105. Display device 106 may be, forexample, an LCD display device. In one embodiment, display device 106and input device 105 may be integrated together in the same device(e.g., a touch screen LCD such as a multi-touch input panel which isintegrated with a display device, such as an LCD display device).Examples of a touch input panel and a display integrated together areshown in U.S. published application No. 20060097991. The display device106 may include a backlight 106 a to illuminate the display device 106under certain circumstances. It will be appreciated that the wirelessdevice 100 may include multiple displays.

Wireless device 100 may also include a battery 107 to supply operatingpower to components of the system including digital RF transceiver 102,digital processing system 103, storage device 104, input device 105,microphone 105A, audio transducer 108, media processing system 109,sensor(s) 110, and display device 106. Battery 107 may be, for example,a rechargeable or non-rechargeable lithium or nickel metal hydridebattery.

Wireless device 100 may also include audio transducers 108, which mayinclude one or more speakers, and at least one microphone 105A.

Wireless device 100 may also include one or more sensors 110 coupled tothe digital processing system 103. The sensor(s) 110 may include, forexample, one or more of a proximity sensor, accelerometer, touch inputpanel, ambient light sensor, ambient noise sensor, temperature sensor,gyroscope, a hinge detector, a position determination device, anorientation determination device, a motion sensor, a sound sensor, aradio frequency electromagnetic wave sensor, and other types of sensorsand combinations thereof. Based on the data acquired by the sensor(s)110, various responses may be performed automatically by the digitalprocessing system, such as, for example, activating or deactivating thebacklight 106 a, changing a setting of the input device 105 (e.g.switching between processing or not processing, as an intentional userinput, any input data from an input device), and other responses andcombinations thereof.

In one embodiment, digital RF transceiver 102, digital processing system103 and/or storage device 104 may include one or more integratedcircuits disposed on a printed circuit board (PCB).

FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate exemplary proximity sensors in accordancewith embodiments of the invention. It will be appreciated that, inalternative embodiments, other types of proximity sensors, such ascapacitive sensors or sonar-like sensors, may be used rather than theproximity sensors shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B. In FIG. 7A, the proximitysensor 120 includes an emitter 122, a detector 124, and a window 126.The emitter 122 generates light in the infrared (IR) bands, and may be,for example, a Light Emitting Diode (LED). The detector 124 isconfigured to detect changes in light intensity and may be, for example,a phototransistor. The window 126 may be formed from translucent orsemi-translucent material. In one embodiment, the window 126 is anacoustic mesh, such as, for example, a mesh typically found with amicrophone or speaker of the portable device. In other embodiments, thewindow 126 may be MicroPerf, IR transparent strands wound in a mesh, ora cold mirror.

During operation, the light from the emitter 122 hits an object andscatters when the object is present above the window 126. The light fromthe emitter may be emitted in square wave pulses which have a knownfrequency, thereby allowing the detector 124 to distinguish betweenambient light and light from emitter 122 which is reflected by anobject, such as the user's head or ear or a material in a user's pocket,back to the detector 124. At least a portion of the scattered light isreflected towards the detector 124. The increase in light intensity isdetected by the detector 124, and this is interpreted by a processingsystem (not shown in FIG. 7A) to mean an object is present within ashort distance of the detector 124. If no object is present or theobject is beyond a certain distance from the detector 124, aninsufficient or smaller amount of the emitted light is reflected backtowards the detector 124, and this is interpreted by the processingsystem (not shown in FIG. 7A) to mean that an object is not present oris at a relatively large distance. In each case, the proximity sensor ismeasuring the intensity of reflected light which is related to thedistance between the object which reflects the light and detector 124.

In one embodiment, the emitter 122 and detector 124 are disposed withinthe housing of a portable device, as described above with reference toFIGS. 2-5B.

In FIG. 7B, the emitter 122 and detector 124 of the proximity sensor areangled inward towards one another to improve detection of the reflectedlight, but the proximity sensor of FIG. 7B otherwise operates in amanner similar to the proximity sensor of FIG. 7A.

A proximity sensor in one embodiment of the inventions includes theability to both sense proximity and detect electromagnetic radiation,such as light, from a source other than the emitter of the proximitysensor. One implementation of this embodiment may use an emitter of IRlight and a detector of IR light to both sense proximity (when detectingIR light from the emitter) and to detect IR light from sources otherthan the emitter. The use of IR light for both the emitter and thedetector of the proximity sensor may be advantageous because IR light issubstantially present in most sources of ambient light (such assunshine, incandescent lamps, LED light sources, candles, and to someextent, even fluorescent lamps). Thus, the detector can detect ambientIR light, which will generally represent, in most environments, ambientlight levels at wavelengths other than IR, and use the ambient IR lightlevel to effectively and reasonably accurately represent ambient lightlevels at wavelengths other than IR.

A method of operating a proximity sensor which includes the ability toboth sense proximity and detect light is shown in FIG. 7C and anexample, in block diagram form, of such a proximity sensor is shown inFIG. 7D. The method of FIG. 7C may use the proximity sensor shown inFIG. 7D or other proximity sensors. The method includes operation 135 inwhich electromagnetic radiation (e.g. IR light) is emitted from theemitter of the proximity sensor. The emitter may emit the radiation in aknown, predetermined pattern (e.g. a train of square wave pulses ofknown, predetermined pulse width and frequency) which allows a detectorto distinguish between ambient radiation and radiation from the emitter.In operation 137, the detector of the proximity sensor detects andmeasures light from the emitter when the detector is operating inproximity sensing mode. A processor coupled to the detector may processthe signal from the detector to identify the known predetermined patternof radiation from the emitter and to measure the amount of radiationfrom the emitter. In operation 139, the detector is used in a mode tosense radiation (e.g. ambient IR light) from a source other than theemitter; this operation may be implemented in a variety of ways. Forexample, the emitted light from the emitter may be disabled by a shutter(either a mechanical or electrical shutter) placed over the emitter orthe emitter's power source may be turned off (thereby stopping theemission of radiation from the emitter). Alternatively, known signalprocessing techniques may be used to remove the effect of the emitter'semitted light which is received at the detector in order to extract outthe light from sources other than the emitter. These signal processingtechniques may be employed in cases where it is not desirable to turn onand off the emitter and where it is not desirable to use a shutter. Itwill be appreciated that operations 135, 137 and 139 may be performed ina sequence which is different than the sequence shown in FIG. 7C; forexample, operation 139 may occur before operations 135 and 137.

FIG. 7D shows an embodiment of a range sensing IR proximity sensor 145which includes the ability to sense and measure proximity and to detectand measure ambient light levels. The proximity sensor 145 includes anIR emitter 147 (e.g. an IR LED) and an IR detector 149. An optionalshutter (e.g. an LCD electronic shutter) may be disposed over theemitter 147. The IR emitter 147 and the IR detector 149 may be coupledto a microcontroller 151 which may control switching between proximitysensing mode and ambient light sensing mode by either closing andopening an optional shutter or by turning on and off the power to the IRemitter 147. The output from the IR detector 149 may be provided fromthe microcontroller 151 to the microprocessor 153 which determines, fromdata from the proximity sensor 145, at least one proximity value anddetermines at least one ambient light level value. In an alternativeembodiment, the microprocessor may be coupled to the IR emitter 147 andto the IR detector 149 without an intervening microcontroller, and themicroprocessor may perform the functions of the microcontroller (e.g.the microprocessor may control switching between proximity sensing modeand ambient light sensing mode). The microprocessor 153 may be coupledto other components 155, such as input (e.g. keypad) or output (e.g.display) devices or memory devices or other sensors or a wirelesstransceiver system, etc. For example, the microprocessor 153 may be themain processor of the wireless device 100 shown in FIG. 6. In thoseembodiments in which a shutter over the IR emitter is not used and IRemissions from the IR emitter 147 are received at the IR detector 149while the IR detector 149 is measuring ambient light levels, themicroprocessor 153 (or the microcontroller 151) may filter out the knownpredetermined pattern of IR light from the IR emitter 147 in order toextract a signal from the IR detector 149 representing the IR lightlevel from sources other than the IR emitter 147.

FIG. 13 is a schematic side view of a combined proximity sensor andambient light sensor in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.FIG. 13 shows combined sensor 1320 including emitter 1322, detector 1324and covering 1326, such as to detect the proximity of an object to thesensor and an ambient light level or intensity at the sensor. FIG. 13also shows logic 1330, such as a processor and/or processing logic forcontrolling, receiving, scaling, subtracting, and/or determining outputsof components of sensor 1320 (e.g., emitter 1322, detector 1324, logic1330 and components thereof) to determine proximity and/or ambientlight. FIG. 13 also shows fence 1310, such as a fence that isantireflective or non-transmissive for radiation of emitter 1322. Fence1310 may be disposed between the emitter and the detector, extending allthe way up to covering 1326, to minimize erroneous readings caused bythe detector receiving emitted radiation (e.g., radiation 1370)refracted by the cover (e.g., radiation 1372). According to someembodiments, fence 1310 may be excluded or not present in sensor 1320(e.g., optional). Covering 1326 may or may not be a covering similar tocovering 126, emitter 1322 may or may not be an emitter similar toemitter 122 as described above for FIGS. 7A through 7D.

Covering 1326 may have the same or different transmissivity propertiesfor different wavelengths, wavelength bands (e.g., visible light and IRlight), signal wavelength peaks, frequencies, frequency bands and/orsignal frequency peaks of electromagnetic radiation. In some cases,covering 1326 may be described as a filter having a passbandtransmissivity for visible light and infrared light, such as to passvisible and IR light from incandescent bulbs and fluorescent bulb, aswell as radiation 1370 and 1374. Covering 1326 may be described aspassing emitted radiation 1370 or reflected radiation 1374 with atransmissivity similar or equal to that for which it passes ambient IR.According to embodiments, covering 1326 may pass only visible and IRlight (e.g., only radiation in the visible light and IR band). Moreover,the transmissivity of covering 1326 may be a result of, caused by, orbased on radiation passing through a coating of the covering, such ascoating 1328. Coating 1328 may be a film, “hardcoat”, ink, spray of darkor black color, and the like on the inside and/or outside surface ofcovering 1326. FIG. 15A shows an example transmissivity for covering1326.

Emitter 1322 is showing emitting emitted radiation 1370 which may berefracted as refracted radiation 1372 by covering 1326. Refractedradiation 1372 may be a portion of the intensity of radiation 1370refracted back towards detector 1324 (and/or emitter 1322) by covering1326, such as by inner surface 1327 and/or coating 1328. Emitter 1322may be an infrared (IR) light emitter or transmitter, and may emit IRlight modulated at a modulation frequency. Thus, radiation 1370 may bean emission of the IR light modulated with a modulation frequency toform a modulated frequency signal (e.g., a combined or modulated signalthat has a modulated frequency that is the emitter IR light modulatedwith the modulation signal). The modulated frequency signal may have asignal frequency peak (such as in the frequency domain, according to aFourier Transform) at the frequency of the IR light of radiation 1370(e.g., light emitted by a diode or LED in an having an IR peak and/or inan IR bandwidth) as well as at the modulation frequency.

Also, radiation 1370 may be reflected by object 1388 such as shown byreflected emitter radiation 1374, which may be received by detector1324. That is, detector 1324 may receive radiation 1374 incident uponthe outer surface of covering 1326 and passing through (or filtered by)covering 1326 and incident upon detector 1324. Object 1388 may be anobject located distal to or outside of the outer surface of covering1326, such as an object having a light and/or an IR light reflectivesurface, like an ear, a finger, a mouth, a material on the inside of apant or shirt pocket, hair, surface of a person's face, and the like.

Object 1388 is shown having proximity D to combined sensor 1320.Proximity may be described as the straight line distance between anobject and combined sensor 1320. For instance, FIG. 13 shows object 1388distance D from the outer surface of covering 1326 of combined sensor1320. It can be appreciated that determining distance D (e.g., the“proximity” of object 1388 to combined sensor 1320) may be performed bydetermining (e.g., using processing logic and sensor outputs) orcalculating the distance from object 1388 to a surface of covering 1326and/or detector 1324. In some cases, determining distance D may includedetecting the power of the reflected radiation received by the deflector(e.g., as compared to the power of the emitted radiation 1370).Similarly, determining distance D may include determining a distancethat radiation emitted by emitter 1322 travels from the emitter to theobject and from the object from to the detector (e.g., approximately 2D)after being reflected by the object.

In addition, detector 1324 may receive ambient radiation 1372 incidentupon the outer surface of covering 1326 and passing through (or filteredby) covering 1326 and incident upon detector 1324. The term “radiation”as used herein may describe electromagnetic radiation, light,fluorescent light, incandescent light, visible light, ambient light(visible and/or IR), and/or infrared (IR) light (e.g., ambient IR light,emitted IR light, reflected IR light, refracted IR light, modulated IRlight and/or emitted modulated IR light).

For instance, FIG. 13 shows ambient radiation 1372 which may includeambient infrared and/or ambient visible light. Ambient light (e.g.,ambient radiation 1372) may be described as electromagnetic radiationhaving a wavelength, frequency, and an intensity (e.g., an amplitude, alevel, or a magnitude) of ambient incandescent light, fluorescent light,visible light, and/or infrared (IR) light. Ambient light may includeelectromagnetic radiation in a visible light spectrum (e.g., havingvisible light wavelength and/or frequency) and electromagnetic radiationin an IR light bandwidth (e.g., having IR light wavelength and/orfrequency). For electromagnetic radiation, frequency is inverselyproportional to wavelength. Thus, herein the term “bandwith” (or “band”for short) may be used to refer to a bandwidth of frequency or aspectrum of wavelength related to such bandwith. The infrared part ofthe electromagnetic spectrum may cover the range from roughly 300 GHz (1mm) to 400 THz (750 nm). The visible light spectrum may include what atypical human eye will respond to, such as wavelengths from 400 to 700nm, although some people may be able to perceive wavelengths from 380 to780 nm.

It can be appreciated that, ambient visible light and ambient infraredlight may be emitted by a fluorescent type light bulb, such as a bulbthat uses an arc of electrical energy thought a gas to produce a largeramount of visible light (e.g., visible light photons) than IR light at alow heat. Comparatively, ambient visible light and ambient infraredlight may be emitted by an incandescent type light bulb, such as a bulbthat uses a heated filament to produce a larger amount of IR light thanvisible light at a high heat. Specifically, the incandescent type bulbemits a greater intensity of IR radiation (and heat) from a filament byusing an electrical current running through the resistive filament, ascompared to a lesser intensity of IR radiation emitted from gas moleculeelectrons dropping quantum excitation states in a fluorescent bulb usingan electrical voltage arc to excite the electrons. Thus, an intensity ofambient visible light may be proportional to, related to, based on,determined from, calculated from, or otherwise derived from an intensityor level of ambient IR light from an ambient of fluorescent light bulbsand/or incandescent light bulbs. More particularly, such ambient lightmay have electromagnetic radiation in or at visible light and IR lightwavelength peaks, spectrums and/or bandwidths. In some cases, a visiblelight wavelength bandwidth may be separated from an IR light wavelengthbandwidth by a threshold wavelength or frequency. The threshold may bedescribed as dividing the two bandwidths; and may be included in either,both, or neither bandwidth.

FIG. 13 shows detector 1324 including sensor 1350, sensor 1352, andfilter 1356. Filter 1356 may have transmissivity properties fordifferent wavelengths, wavelength bands (e.g., visible light and IRlight), wavelength peaks, frequencies, frequency bands and/or frequencypeaks of electromagnetic radiation. In some cases, filter 1356 may be afilter with a coating having transmissivity properties that filter outvisible light, or pass only infrared light. Filter 1356 may have acoating such as described above for covering 1326 (e.g., a coatingsimilar to coating 1328), but having the transmissivity propertiesdescribed above for filter 1356. Filter 1356 may have the transmissivityproperties described for FIG. 15B.

Filter 1356 may be described as a passband filter for IR light, but notpassing visible light, such as to pass IR light from incandescent bulbsand fluorescent bulb, as well as radiation 1370 and 1374, but not topass visible light from incandescent bulbs and fluorescent bulb.According to embodiments, filter 1356 may pass only IR light (e.g., onlyradiation in the IR band).

Sensor 1350 may be described as a sensor configured to detectelectromagnetic radiation from emitter 1322, and ambient radiation 1372.For example, sensor 1350 may be able to detect radiation 1374 andradiation 1372 as filtered by covering 1326. Thus, sensor 1350 may bedescribed as configured to detect electromagnetic radiation from emitter1322, and/or ambient radiation 1372 when combined sensor 1320 ordetector 1324 is configured to sense light, ambient light, and/orvisible light.

Specifically, being “configured to detect” as described herein maydescribe the capability of a sensor to detect or sense differentwavelengths, wavelength bands (e.g., visible light and IR light),wavelength peaks, frequencies, frequency bands and/or frequency peaks ofelectromagnetic radiation depending on the wavelengths of emittedradiation, modulation of emitted radiation, and transmissivity offilters between the electromagnetic radiation and the sensor. Moreover,the terms “processing logic” as described herein may describe anapparatus, an electronic device, a processor, processing logic, passivecircuitry, active circuitry, electronic hardware, software, a system, amodule, a component, a processor, a memory, registers and/or acombination of any or all of the above. Similarly, the term “sensor” mayinclude the above descriptions for processing logic. Also, use of theterm “detect” and derivations therefrom may be similar to that describedherein for use of the term “sense” and derivations thereof, and viceversa. Moreover, use of the term “scale” or “scaling” may describe usinga scale value or scalar stored in a memory, logic, processing logic,register, or scaler to multiply, increase, or decrease the amplitude orintensity of a signal or value (e.g., such as a detected or sensedintensity or amplitude). In some cases, scaling may describe attenuatingor amplifying a signal (such as an output of a sensor or photodiode) toapply a “gain” to the signal, such as using processing logic, software,and the like. Likewise, a “scaler” may describe a signal attenuator,resistor, divider or amplifier.

According to some embodiments, sensor 1350 may be configured to detectelectromagnetic radiation from a source other than emitter 1322 whencombined sensor 1320 is sensing visible light, such as by covering 1326allowing the visible light to be detected or sensed by sensor 1350. Forexample, when sensing light, such as ambient light, sensor 1350 may beconfigured to detect ambient radiation 1372 including ambient visiblelight and ambient IR light, but not to detect radiation 1374, becauseemitter 1322 is not emitting, is not turned on, is covered, is notexposed, or is filtered out of the signal detected by sensor 1350 (suchas by being filtered out by logic 1330). In this case, sensor 1350 maybe described as an ambient visible light and ambient IR light sensor.Sensor 1350 may be used to sense ambient light, ambient visible light,and/or to perform ALS.

Logic 1330 may be coupled to detector 1324 and emitter 1322 by couplingssuch as signal lines, electronic wires, electronic traces, cables, andthe like for sending and receiving power, grounding, signals and thelike between logic 1330 and emitter 1322 and/or detector 1324. In somecases, the coupling 1332 between logic 1330 and emitter 1322 may allowlogic 1330 to modulate the emitter IR light and/or to turn the emitteron and off. Also, coupling 1332 may allow logic 1330 to control or sensewhen emitter 1322 is emitting, not emitting, and/or modulating radiation1370. For example, see FIGS. 16 and 17.

Sensor 1352 may be a sensor as described above for sensor 1350, exceptthat sensor 1352 is covered with or has filter 1356 disposed betweensensor 1352 and radiation 1370, 1374, and 1372. Thus, sensor 1352 maydetect electromagnetic radiation from radiation 1370, radiation 1374,and/or ambient IR radiation from radiation 1372, but may not receive,detect, or sense visible light from radiation 1372.

According to some embodiments, sensor 1352 is configured to detectradiation 1372, but not radiation 1370, or radiation 1374 (e.g., byemitter 1322 not emitting, not being turned on or being covered). Inthis case, although sensor 1352 receives ambient IR light, but does notreceive light from radiation 1372 and 1374. In this case, sensor 1352may be described as an ambient IR light sensor. Sensor 1352 may be usedto sense ambient light, ambient IR light, and/or to perform ALS.

In some cases, sensor 1352 is configured to detect radiation 1370 orradiation 1374 (e.g., by emitter 1322 emitting radiation 1370 which isreflected by object 1388), but not radiation 1372 (e.g., by subtractingor filtering out ambient visible and infrared light from radiation1372). In this case, although sensor 1352 may receive IR light fromradiation 1372 and 1374, the IR light from radiation 1372 may befiltered out by logic 1330. For instance, radiation 1370 may be IRradiation modulated at a frequency of a modulation signal, such as asquare wave, sine waver, or other modulation signal waveform (such as bybeing modulated by a modulation signal at a frequency between 1Hz and300 KHz, such as 5 KHz or 200 KHz). Thus, IR light from radiation 1372may be filtered out by determining a modulation frequency or waveform ofradiation 1374 and subtracting ambient IR from radiation 1372 frommodulated radiation 1374. This subtraction may be performed by bandpassfiltering to pass signals at the modulation frequency and/or modulatedfrequency of modulated radiation 1374, but not to pass the frequency ofthe ambient light. In this case, sensor 1352 may be described as atransmitted or emitted IR light sensor. Sensor 1352 may be used to senseproximity of the object to combined sensor 1320.

Thus, sensor 1352 may be described as configured to detect radiationfrom emitter 1322 by being configured with covering 1326, filter 1356,and logic 1330, when combined sensor 1320 is sensing proximity. However,in this instance, sensor 1352 is not configured to detect or senseeither visible light or ambient IR light.

FIG. 14 is a schematic top view of a combined proximity sensor andambient light sensor in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.FIG. 14 also shows output switch 1465 for distinguishing or switchingbetween output 1432 between scaler 1464 and proximity logic 1467, suchas by using time domain multiplexing (TDM). This may be described asfiltering to pass signals at the modulation frequency. For example,during proximity mode, switch 1465 may switch output 1432 to proximitylogic 1467. Alternatively, during ALS mode or ambient visible lightsensing mode, switch 1465 may switch output 1432 to scaler 1464. Switch1465 may include logic and circuitry described for logic 1330. In somecases, switch 1465 may include a multiplexer coupled to generator 1460,such as by a coupling similar to coupling 1332, to switch output 1432 toscaler 1464 when emitter 1322 is turned off (e.g., in ambient lightsensing mode) and to proximity logic 1467 (e.g., in proximity sensingmode). Specifically, switch 1465 may be used to time-slice and multiplexoutput 1432 by sending output 1432 to logic 1467 during the slice oftime when emitter 1322 is emitting IR, and by sending output 1432 toscaler 1464 during the slice of time when emitter 1322 is not emittingIR. Switch 1465 may be optional as output 1432 may be split (havingequal amplitude) to be received by logic 1467 and scaler 1464 in bothmodes.

FIG. 14 shows combined sensor 1320 from above, including emitter 1322,fence 1310, cover 1326, detector 1324, and logic 1330. As describedabove for FIG. 13, diode 1422 of emitter 1322 may be turned on and offby logic 1330, or otherwise controlled to emit IR or modulated IR, suchas described below for FIGS. 16 and 17. It can be appreciated thatalthough logic 1330 is shown beside sensors 1350 and 1352, logic 1330may be disposed at different locations adjacent to, or underneath thosesensors. For instance, logic 1330 may be part of processing logic orcircuitry disposed on or below surface 1342 and/or surface 1344, at alocation other than where it is shown in FIG. 14. FIG. 14 shows emitter1322 including IR diode 1422 (e.g., an IR LED) for emitting radiation1370.

FIG. 14 also shows sensor 1350 including phototransistor 1450, andsensor 1352 including phototransistor 1452. Phototransistors 1450 and1452 may be similar phototransistors, such as phototransistors capableof sensing visible light and radiation 1374 with equal or substantiallyequal sensitivity. However, as noted above for FIG. 13, thosephototransistors may be configured by or controlled by filter 1356,covering 1326, and/or logic 1330 to only sense ambient light, ambientvisible light, ambient IR and/or radiation 1374. According toembodiments, phototransistors may convert photons of incident ambientlight and emitted radiation (e.g., reflected and refracted IR light)into an electrical signal output (e.g., having data, frequencies, and/orwavelengths proportional, equal or according to the frequencies, and/orwavelengths of the light and radiation received).

FIG. 14 shows logic 1330 including scaler 1462, scaler 1464, subtractor1466 and scaler 1468. FIG. 14 shows sensor output 1430 output by sensor1350 and received by scaler 1462. Similarly, sensor output 1432 isoutput by sensor 1352 and received by scaler 1454. Scaler output 1434 isoutput by scaler 1462 and received by subtractor 1466. Similarly, scaleroutput 1436 is output by scaler 1464 and received by subtractor 1466.Subtractor output 1438 is output by subtractor 1466 and received byscaler 1468. Finally, scaler output 1440 is output by scaler 1468.

Scaler 1462 is shown including scale value S1, such as a value forscaling output 1430 to determine, create or calculate value 1434.Similarly, scaler 1464 is shown including scale value S2, such as avalue for multiplying or scaling output 1432 to determine, create orcalculate value 1436. Scalers 1462 and 1464 may include processing logicas described herein. Similarly, scale value S1 and scale value S2 may bestored, written to, or saved in memory, registers and/or processinglogic as described herein. Thus, scaler 1462, 1464, value S1 and/orvalue S2 may be used to scale the outputs of sensors 1350 and 1352 sothat the ambient IR detected by both sensors can be scaled to an equalintensity (e.g., equal with respect to an amplitude at one or moresimilar wavelengths) or substantially equal intensity. Herein, the term“substantial” may refer to 100 percent or all of value, or, in somecases, a range within 1, 2 or 5 percent of that value. Conversely, theterm “insubstantial” may refer to a zero or null valued, or, in somecases, a range within 1, 2 or 5 percent of that value.

Subtractor 1466 may be used to subtract outputs 1434 and 1436. Forexample, where the ambient infrared received by sensors 1350 and 1352are scaled to equal intensities or levels, subtractor 1466 may subtractoutput 1436 from output 1434 to determine, create or calculate output1438 that excludes the ambient infrared signals detected and/or includesonly the ambient visible light. Thus, because the IR transmissive link(e.g., filter 1356 and/or covering 1326) has drastically differentproperties depending on the type of light (fluorescent, incandescent,etc.), different gains (e.g., scaling) can be applied to the output ofeach sensor (e.g., scaling of one or more of sensor outputs 1430 and/or1432) before the outputs can be subtracted (e.g., by subractor 1466).Subtractor 1466 may include processing logic as described herein.

It is contemplated that the scaling and subtracting described above forcombined sensor 1320, detector 1324, covering 1326, filter 1356, sensor1350, sensor 1352, scaler 1462, scaler 1464, value S1, value S2, and/orsubtractor 1466 may also be applied during emission, sensing anddetection of radiation 1370 and 1374. Specifically, the conceptsdescribed above apply during emission of radiation 1370 and detection ofradiation 1374, even when combined sensor 1320 is sensing ambient lightor visible light. Thus, in addition to being able to subtract ambientinfrared light, combined sensor 1320 is able to subtract emitted lightfrom the ambient or visible light.

Scaler 1468 may scale or multiply subtractor output 1438 by value S3 tocreate scaler output 1440. For example, scaler 1468 may includeprocessing logic to multiply output 1438 to scale down value 1438 whenthe amount of ambient IR received is greater than the amount of visiblelight (e.g., when the ratio of output 1438/output 1436 is greater than1). This scaling may reduce the visible light determined or calculatedby the sensor in instances where that value is overestimated because theambient infrared is a greater portion of radiation 1372 than the ambientvisible light.

Logic 1330 also includes waveform generator 1460 for generating amodulation signal or frequency to modulate IR light transmitted byemitter 1322. Waveform generator 1460 may generate a modulation signalas described for coupling 1332, sensor 1352, intensity D of FIG. 16,and/or intensity E of FIG. 17.

It is considered that proximity logic 1467 may determine a proximity ofobject 1388 from the distinguished reflected modulated light (e.g., fromoutput 1433 from radiation 1374 distinguished from ambient IR by it'smodulation frequency) when in proximity mode by comparing thedistinguished reflected modulated light to one or more threshold values(e.g., using one or more comparators of logic 1467, such as to compareoutput 1433 to the values). A setting of a display illuminator may bedecreased if the distinguished reflected modulated light is greater thanthe threshold value (e.g., indicating the sensor is close to the object)to save power or battery life.

Also, it is considered that logic 1330 may determine a visible lightintensity of ambient radiation 1372 from the visible light detected(e.g., from output 1438 or 1440) when in ALS mode by comparing thevisible light detected to one or more threshold values (e.g., using acomparator of logic 1330, such as to compare output 1440 to the values).A peak intensity (e.g, the highest amplitude within the visualwavelength band), average intensity (e.g, average of the amplitudewithin the visual wavelength band), area under the intensity curve(e.g., area under intensity B, scaled or not scaled by S3) within thevisual wavelength band (e.g., determined by a sum of the intensityvalues, integration, and/or processing logic, such as a capacitorintegrator) may be compared to the threshold value. A setting of adisplay illuminator may be decreased if the visible light detected isless than the threshold value (e.g., indicating the sensor is close tothe object) to save power or battery life.

It can be appreciated that according to some embodiments, combinedsensor 1320 may be a combined proximity sensor and ALS able to senseproximity and the ALS using only a single emitter (emitter 1322) andonly two sensors or phototransistors. To this end, combined sensor 1320may be described as having ALS portion and a proximity sensor portionwhich overlap or share at least a cover, a fence, a sensor (e.g.,phototransistor), a filter, and/or processing logic). The ALS portion(see PALS of FIGS. 13-14) may include two sensors or phototransistors(e.g., sensors 1350 and 1352, or phototransistors 1450 and 1452), onewith a filter (e.g., filter 1356 and optionally cover 1326) having apassband that only passes IR, and one with a filter (e.g., cover 1326)having a passband that passes both IR and visible light (VL). Proximitysensor portion (see PP1 and PP2 of FIGS. 13-14 which combine to form theproximity sensor portion) of the combined sensor may include IR emittingdiode 1422 and one of the same sensors or phototransistors as the ALSportion (e.g., sensor 1352, or phototransistor 1452) having a filterhaving a passband that only passes IR. The phototransistor and filterused to sense proximity (e.g., radiation 1374) by the proximity portionduring a proximity sensing mode may also be the same phototransistor andfilter (having a passband that only passes IR) used by the ALS portionof the sensor to sense ambient visible light (e.g., by sensing ambientIR to be subtracted from the ambient IR and visible light of radiation1372) during a light sensing mode. Thus, the proximity sensor portionoverlaps the ALS sensor portion (e.g., by using the same sensor 1352 (orphototransistor 1452), circuit board area, traces or signal lines,fence, and related circuitry.

As noted above, Emitter 1322 may be an infrared (IR) light emitteremitting radiation 1370, a portion of which passes through cover 1326(e.g., some of which may become radiation 1374 incident upon the cover),and another portion which is refracted by cover 1326 as radiation 1372.Thus, fence 1310 may be used to prohibit, remove or reduce a substantialamount of emitted radiation 1370 from being refracted into a proximitysensor and the ALS, or combined proximity sensor and ALS (e.g., byphysically subtracting, inhibiting, reducing the wavelength of lightemitted from passing through the fence). Fence 1310 may be described asremoving the emitted radiation 1370 from reaching the detector, prior tothe emitted radiation passing through cover 1326. Fence 1310 may extendfrom the covering (e.g., surface 1327) to below a location where theemitter radiation refracted by the covering would reach either ofsensors 1350 or 1352 (e.g., phototransistors 1450 or 1452), to minimizereflection of the refracted radiation into those sensors.

FIG. 14 shows fence 1310 having width W. Width W may be a width ofbetween 1 millimeter and 30 millimeters. FIG. 13 also shows fence 1310having height H and thickness TH. Height H may be a height between 1millimeter and 10 millimeters. Thickness TH may be a thickness between0.01 millimeters and 2 millimeters. It can be appreciated that otherdimensions for height H, thickness TH, and width W may be used asappropriate for fence 1310.

Fence 1310 is shown extending into groove 1312 below surface 1342 andsurface 1344 and up to inner surface 1327 of covering 1326. Surface 1342may be a surface on which emitter 1322 is disposed or mounted. Surface1344 may be a surface upon which detector 1324 is disposed or mounted.Surface 1342 and surface 1344 may be parallel surfaces or surfaces thatare not parallel but have different heights with respect to the bottomof groove 1312.

Fence 1310 may be coupled to groove 1312 such as by being attached,bonded, adhered, glued, removably attached, permanently attached (e.g.,such as being removed only by damaging surface 1342, 1344, and or groove1312) to groove 1312. Specifically, fence 1310 may be coupled to groove1312 by an adhesive, bonding, heat processing (such as to melt orcombine the material of fence 1310 and/or groove 1312), and/ormechanically disposed to be retained in groove 1312 (e.g., such as byhaving size tolerances with respect to thickness TH and height H thatmaintain fence 1310 in groove 1312 even during flexing of surfaces 1342,1344, groove 1312 and/or surfaces of covering 1326).

Fence 1310 may be coupled to inner surface 1327 (or a groove in theinner surface) of covering 1326 similarly to the description above forfence 1310 being coupled to groove 1312. In addition, fence 1310 may beadjacent to, or touching, inner surface 1327 of covering 1326. In somecases, adhesive used to attach or couple fence 1310 to surface 1327and/or groove 1312 may be adhesive or other material extending outwardfrom surface 1327, 1342 and/or 1344 adjacent to fence 1310 to form aridge to retain the fence in position (e.g., such as without having theadhesive dry while touching the fence).

Also, it is considered that during use of combined sensor 1320, andinsubstantial gap may exist between fence 1310 and surface 1327, such asa gap through which an insubstantial amount of radiation 1370 isrefracted by surface 1327 and received by detector 1324. For example, anamount of refracted radiation 1372 may be received by detector 1324which effects proximity distance and/or ambient light determinations orcalculations by less than five percent. Such a gap may occur duringflexing of surface 1342, groove 1312, surface 1344 and/or surface 1327.

According to embodiments, a coupling similar to that described forcoupling fence 1310 to groove 1312, may also exist at surface 1327.Similarly, a coupling such as described above between fence 1310 andsurface 1327 may exist between fence 1310 and surface 1342 and/or 1344.Also, the couplings shown may be reversed. In some cases, the couplingsto a groove or a surface described may exist between one or both ends ofwidth W of fence 1310 and a sidewall surface.

Fence 1310 may comprise a plastic, metal, alloy, organic, inorganic,semiconductor, conductive, or non-electrically conductive material.Moreover, in some cases, the material of fence 1310 may be the samematerial as that of surface 1327, 1342 and/or 1344. For example, fence1310 may be an extension of the material that forms surface 1342 and/orsurface 1344. Likewise, fence 1310 may be an extension of the materialthat forms covering 1326 and/or surface 1327.

Fence 1310 may have transmissivity properties that do not allow for any,prohibit, or substantially reduce reflection or refraction of radiation1327 by surface 1327, covering 1326 or coating 1328. For example, fence1310 may be 100% non-transmissive for radiation 1370 or infrared light.It can be appreciated, that the material of fence 1310 or a coating onthe material of fence 1310 may provide the transmissivity properties offence 1310. For example, fence 1310 may be coated with a film, spray, orother coating as described above for covering 1326 (e.g., a coatingsimilar to coating 1328, but on the outside surface of fence 1310), buthaving the transmissivity properties described above for fence 1310.

In accordance with embodiments having a proximity detector separate froman ambient light sensor (ALS), a fence similar to fence 1310 may bedisposed between the proximity emitter and the proximity sensor, andanother such fence may be disposed between the proximity emitter and theALS. For example, the emitter and sensors may be in a linearrelationship where the proximity sensor is between the emitter and theALS, and a fence is between the proximity sensor and each of the emitterand the ALS. In this case, the ALS may be an ALS as known in the art,such as an ALS that does not have sensors to determine proximity orreceive radiation 1370 or 1374.

FIG. 15A is a graph showing transmissivity verse wavelength for a coverin accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 15Ashows transmissivity 1502 of cover 1326 or coating 1328 with respect tothreshold wavelength (W_(IR)), visible light bandwidth 1510, and IRbandwidth 1530. For example, threshold wavelength (W_(IR)) may be awavelength (e.g., corresponding to a “cutoff” wavelength or frequency)between an upper threshold wavelength of visible light bandwidth 1510and a lower threshold wavelength of IR bandwidth 1530. Within bandwidth1510 transmissivity 1502 is approximately 10%. After wavelength W_(IR),transmissivity 1502 rapidly increases to approximately 60%. Withinbandwidth 1530 transmissivity 1502 is approximately 60%. Other valuesare contemplated for transmissivity 1502, such as values approximately5%, 15%, or 20% within bandwidth 1510; and/or approximately 40%, 50%,70% or 80% within bandwidth 1530. The term “approximately” may refer tothe specific valued noted herein, or, in some cases, a range within 1, 2or 5 percent of that value. Thus, cover 1326 may be described as apassband filter for passing ambient light including ambient visiblelight and ambient IR. Cover 1326 may also be described as a passband forpassing emitted radiation 1370 and 1374.

It can be appreciated that wavelengths in bandwidth 1510 (e.g., belowW_(IR) 1520) may be described as a wavelength band of visible light,such as a band including the wavelength peak for visible light fromvarious incandescent light, filament light, and fluorescent light bulbs.Also, the wavelengths in bandwidth 1530 (e.g., above W_(IR) 1520) may bedescribed as a wavelength band of ambient infrared light as well asradiation 1370. For instance, the wavelength above W_(IR) may includepeak frequencies for ambient IR emitted by various fluorescent type andincandescent type light bulbs, as well as IR wavelengths for radiation1370.

FIG. 15B is a graph showing transmissivity verse wavelength for aninfrared passband filter in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention. FIG. 15B shows transmissivity 1504 of filter 1356.Transmissivity 1504 is approximately 0% in bandwidth 1510 (e.g., belowW_(IR) 1520), but increases rapidly (e.g., approximately at W_(IR) 1520)to approximately 40% in bandwidth 1530 (e.g., above W_(IR) 1520). Othervalues are contemplated for transmissivity 1504, such as valuesapproximately 1%, 2%, or 5% within bandwidth 1510; and/or approximately20%, 30%, 50% or 60% within bandwidth 1530. Thus, filter 1356 may bedescribed as a passband for ambient IR, and IR of radiation 1370.However, filter 1356 may be described as having no or substantially zerotransmissivity for visible light and/or visible light wavelengths (e.g.,those below the infrared bandwidth).

FIG. 15C is a graph showing intensity versus wavelength for a visiblelight and infrared sensor output in accordance with one embodiment ofthe present invention. FIG. 15C shows an example of intensity A forsensor output 1430. For instance, FIG. 15C shows an example of theintensity or amplitude of radiation 1374, and/or 1372 received by sensor1350 through covering 1326 and output at 1430. Intensity A includesradiation (e.g., ambient visible light) in visible light bandwidth 1510,radiation at threshold wavelength (W_(IR)), and radiation withinbandwidth 1530. Also, in cases where emitter 1322 is emitting, intensityA may include IR light of radiation 1374 within bandwidth 1530. Sincethe light received by sensor 1350 is filtered by covering 1326,intensity A may have a lower amplitude below wavelength 1520 as comparedto that above wavelength 1520 for equal amplitudes of ambient IR andvisible light incident upon covering 1326.

FIG. 15D is a graph showing intensity versus wavelength for an infraredsensor output in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention. FIG. 15D shows an example of intensity B of sensor output1432. For example, intensity B may be an example of radiation 1372received by sensor 1352 through covering 1326 and filter 1356 sensed bysensor 1352 and output at output 1432. Since filter 1356 hassubstantially zero transmissivity below wavelength 1520 but passes IRabove wavelength 1520, the ambient visible light of intensity B will besubstantially filtered out, while the ambient IR above wavelength 1520will be present, although attenuated as compared to that for intensityA. In the IR band, intensity B is less than intensity A by a percentequal to that for transmissivity 1504, because filter 1356 filters thelight received by sensor 1352, but does not filter the light received bysensor 1350.

Thus, by scaling the ambient IR of intensity B to have an amplitude(e.g., peak amplitude BP) similar to the peak amplitude of intensity A(e.g., peak AP) it is possible to subtract the scaled value of intensityB from intensity A to remove the ambient IR and determine (e.g., usingprocessing logic and sensor outputs) or calculate the ambient visiblelight. It can be appreciated, this scaling and subtraction may alsoremove or subtract out radiation 1370 or 1374 from the ambient visiblelight. For example, the visible light may be equal to intensity A minus(x·intensity B), or determined according to the equation:VL=A−xB  a)

In the example described for FIGS. 15 through 15D, “x” may be equal to2.5, or the inverse of transmissivity 1504 in the IR band. It can beappreciate that other values can be used depending on transmissivity1502, transmissivity 1504, and/or ambient light sensing properties ofsensors 1350 and 1352. Thus, the ratio of S2/S1 would be 2.5 in thisexample. In some cases, scaler 1462 and scale value S1 may be removed,such as where output 1430 is equal to output 1434. For instance, S2=“x”in this case. Specifically, where the above ratio is 2.5, value S2 maybe equal to 2.5 and scaler 1462 may be removed from logic 1330 (e.g.,see FIG. 14).

FIG. 15E is a graph showing intensity versus wavelength for a subtractoroutput of processing logic in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention. FIG. 15E shows intensity C of subtractor output 1438for processing logic 1330, such as where a scaled value of intensity Bis subtracted from intensity A to determine, calculate or createintensity C. As the scaled value of the IR band has been subtracted out,intensity C includes the ambient visible light detected by combinedsensor 1320 but does not include ambient IR. Moreover, intensity C doesnot include radiation 1370 or radiation 1374, as radiation 1370 orradiation 1374 are subtracted out by subtractor 1466 as well.

In addition, in some embodiments, the result of the subtraction mayoptionally be further scaled depending on the ration of ambient IR lightto ambient visible light received by the detector. For instance, in someembodiments, intensity C may be further scaled depending on the amountof ambient infrared light detected by combined sensor 1320, such as toaccount for an amount that the detector overestimates what a person'seye sees or perceives of the incandescent visual ambient light, such ascompared to florescent light. Thus, intensity C may be scaled down whenthe received ambient light is primarily for incandescent light asopposed to florescent or other non-incandescent light (e.g., a sort ofauto-white balancing). In some cases, intensity C (e.g., output 1438)may be scaled by scaler 1468 (e.g., by scale value S3) to determine,create or calculate output scaled visible light (VL′) (e.g., output1440). Specifically, intensity C may be scaled by (e.g., scale value S3may be) an incandescent light factor (X_(I)) or a fluorescent lightfactor (X_(F)) depending on the ratio of intensity ambient IR (IR_(A))to ambient visible light (VL_(A)). According to embodiments, the ratioof IR_(A) to VL_(A) may be equal to or determined by the ratio of totalpower (e.g., summed or integrated over the entire frequency range), orthe peak power (e.g., at a peak power frequency) of intensityB/intensity C. Also, the ratio of IR_(A) to VL_(A) may be equal to ordetermined by the ratio of total power (e.g., summed or integrated overthe entire frequency range), or the peak power (e.g., at a peak powerfrequency) of the visual light bandwidth of intensity A over the IRbandwidth of intensity A. For example, when IR_(A)/VL_(A)≦1, the scaledvisible light (VL′) may be scaled or determined according to theequation:VL′=X_(I)VL,  b)

Also, when IR_(A)/VL_(A)>1, the scaled visible light (VL′) may scaled ordetermined according to the equation:VL′=X_(F)VL  c)

In the example described, X_(F) may be greater than X_(I), such as by afactor of 1.2 to 2.0 times greater. In some cases, X_(F) may be 0.9 andX_(I) may be 0.5.

For instance, as described above, an incandescent type bulb emits agreater intensity of IR radiation (and heat), as compared to a lesserintensity of IR radiation emitted from a fluorescent bulb. Thus, wheremore ambient IR light is detected than visible IR light, intensity C maybe reduced in scale to accurately represent that the ambient lightincludes more visible light from incandescent type bulbs than fromfluorescent type bulbs. In other words, the visible light from theincandescent bulbs does not appear as brighter to the human eye as thevisible light determined or calculated (e.g., the intensity C or output1438 is overestimated and can be scaled down). Alternatively, where theratio of ambient IR to ambient visible light is equal to or less than 1,intensity C may be scaled down by less or not be scaled (or may not bereduced relative to scaling noted above) to accurately represent thatthe ambient light includes more visible light from fluorescent typebulbs than from incandescent type bulbs, which appears as bright to thehuman eye as the visible light determined or calculated. Scaler 1468 mayprovide such scaling.

As noted, radiation 1370 may be IR radiation modulated at a frequency,such as a frequency between 1Hz and 300 KHz. For instance IR light ofradiation 1370 (e.g., light emitted by a diode or LED in an having an IRpeak and/or in an IR bandwidth) may be transmitted at a modulationfrequency of 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, or a range between any two of thosenumbers in KHz. For instance, FIG. 16 is a graph showing intensityversus frequency for an infrared and visible light sensor output inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 16 showsintensity D of sensor output 1430, such as an intensity when sensor 1430is receiving radiation 1374 and radiation 1372. FIG. 16 shows modulatorfrequency F_(EM) 1620, at which intensity D has a peak. Intensity D alsoincludes an amplitude for the ambient at and near direct current (DC)frequency 1610.

Thus, IR light from radiation 1372 may be filtered out or distinguishedfrom ambient light by determining a modulation frequency or waveform ofradiation 1374 and subtracting ambient IR from radiation 1372 frommodulated radiation 1374. For instance, TDM, a passband filter, afrequency filter, or other processing logic may be used to distinguishemitted IR light 1370 modulated with a first waveform at frequencyF_(EM) 1620 from ambient IR light (e.g., IR light having a differentsecond waveform and/or at a different second frequency). Distinguishingthe modulated signal from ambient IR may be performed according toprocesses known in the art for bandpassing modulated signals. Moreover,coupling 1332 between logic 1330 and emitter 1322 may allow logic 1330to turn diode 1422 on and off according to the frequency of F_(EM).

FIG. 17 is a graph showing intensity verse time for modulated emitterradiation and ambient light in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention. FIG. 17 shows intensity E of modulated emittedradiation 1370. Intensity E includes a squarewave modulation atfrequency F_(EM)=1/(wavelength T2−T0), of IR light emitted by emitter1322. Intensity E includes 100% of the emitted IR amplitude or emittedIR 1740 (e.g., diode 1422 turned on by forward biasing the diode usingcoupling 1332) during the time between T0 and T1. During this period,logic 1330 may turn on or activate emitter 1322 and may use sensor 1352,filtering, scaling, subtraction, etc. to select radiation 1374 to senseproximity D of object 1388. Also, Intensity E includes 0% of the emittedIR amplitude or the absence of emitted IR 1740 (e.g., diode 1422 turnedoff by zero or reverse biasing the diode using coupling 1332) during thetime between T1 and T2. During this period, logic 1330 may turn off ordeactivate emitter 1322 and may use sensor 1350, sensor 1352, filtering,scaling, subtraction, etc. to select visible light of ambient radiation1372.

Thus, the emitter, waveform generator (e.g., modulation frequency), andprocessing logic (e.g., logic 1467) for detecting proximity may be shutdown, powered off, or otherwise not operating or used during a lightsensing mode (e.g., the period between T1 and T2). Alternatively,processing logic for detecting visible or ambient light (e.g., scaler1462, scaler 1464, scaler 1468, and subtractor 1466), and sensor 1350may be shut down, powered off, or otherwise not operating or used duringa proximity sensing mode (e.g., the period between T0 and T1).Specifically, switch 1465 may be used to time-slice and multiplex theoperation or output of sensor 1352 by slicing or switching time T (seeFIG. 17) between emitted IR 1740 (sending output 1432 to logic 1467) andemitted IR off 1744 (sending output 1432 to scaler 1464), such as usingthe square waveform of modulation 1742.

The period between T0 and T1 may or may not be equal to the periodbetween T1 and T2. Thus, modulation 1742 shows a squarewave of modulatedemitter radiation 1370, such as a signal emitted by emitter 1322 andsensed during the period T0 to T1 to detect proximity, while ALS isdetected during the period between T1 and T2. It is considered that thisswitching may occur in cases where the ALS portion (e.g., time T1 to T2)takes approximately 500 ms to react in low light conditions, and theproximity sensor portion is shut down during this time.

Distinguishing the emitted IR from ambient IR by detecting for emittedIR during one time period and for ambient IR during another may bedescribed as TDM, timeslicing and multiplexing, and/or using a waveformfilter. Also, although the use of intensity D and/or E to modulateemitted radiation 1370 describe processes for distinguishing the emittedIR from the ambient IR, it can be appreciated that other processes canbe used.

Combined sensor 1320 may be defined by having portions of a proximitysensor that overlap with portions of an ambient light sensor. Accordingto embodiments, a “combined sensor” include the description above for anintegrated sensor. Thus, at least certain embodiments may provide thebenefit of a combined sensor 1320 able to sense ALS and proximity usingonly two sensors and a single emitter, such as to reduce cost,complexity, processing logic, surface area use (e.g., the footprint ofcombined sensor 1320 on surface 1342 and 1344), the number of componentsthat may fail, and/or the like. In addition, at least certainembodiments may use overlapping portions of the same sensor to sense ALSand proximity to reduce power consumption by having fewer components(e.g., sensors, phototransistors, circuit board area, traces length, andrelated circuitry), to reduce processing power consumption (e.g., byrequiring less processing logic for the combined components), and thusmay extend battery life by using less power to sense proximity and ALS.Also, at least certain embodiments may use overlapping portions toreduce power consumption by more accurately determining when toattenuate or change illumination levels of a display device and at whatlight level to illuminate the display, such as by providing a singlesensor location from which to sense proximity and ALS. Specifically, atleast certain embodiments may only require the cost to purchase, spaceto use, power to activate and use, and processing logic for two sensors(e.g., sensors, phototransistors, circuit board area, traces length, andrelated circuitry) to sense ALS and proximity instead of the threesensors required for a separate ALS and proximity sensor.

Moreover, it can be appreciated that at least certain embodiments of thecombined sensor may provide proximity and/or ALS data to a processor orprocessing logic of an electronic device, a display device, or a dataprocessing system. Thus, at least certain embodiments of the processoror processing logic can determine, based upon the data, whether tomodify a setting of the data processing system. For instance, theprocessor or processing logic may compare the data from the proximitysensor to a threshold value and/or compare the data from the ALS to athreshold value (e.g., in order to interpret the data to predictactivity of a user relative to the data processing system. Specifically,the comparison may be used to determine when and by how much to modify(e.g., by adjusting, increasing, decreasing, turning on, turning off, orleaving status quo) at least one of a setting of a display illuminator,a setting of a sound input or output parameter, a setting of processingof inputs from an input device, and/or a setting of a mode of the dataprocessing system. In some cases, the data from the proximity sensorand/or ALS may indicate that the device or data processing system isproximate to a user's ear, hair, face or mouth, such as by sensing avery close proximity (e.g., 0-2 cm) at the earpiece/speaker, closeproximity (e.g., 1 mm-15 cm) at the mouthpiece/microphone, normal orequal ALS mouthpiece/microphone and at the side of the device away fromthe user (e.g., to indicate the device is not in a pocket, case, ordevice holder), and/or very low ALS at the earpiece/speaker. In thecases where the device of data processing system is proximate to auser's ear, hair, face or mouth, the processor or processing logic maydecrease or turn off the setting of a display illuminator, a setting ofa sound input or output parameter, a setting of processing of inputsfrom an input device, and/or a setting of a mode of the data processingsystem.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart which shows a method of operating a combinedproximity sensor and ambient light sensor which is capable of detectingproximity of an object and visible light in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention. FIG. 18 shows process 1800 whichmay be a process similar to that described above for FIG. 7C. Moreover,process 1800 may include using a single sensor or phototransistor tosense proximity, and to be combined with a second phototransistor tosense ambient or visual light. Hence, block 1835, 1837 and 1839 of FIG.18 may correspond to blocks 135, 137 and 139 of FIG. 7C, respectively.

At block 1835, radiation from an emitter of a proximity portion of acombined sensor may be emitted, when the combined sensor is in proximitysensing mode. For example, block 1835 may describe emitter 1322 ofproximity portion PP1 (e.g., see FIGS. 13 and 14) emitting radiation1370 during the period between T0 and T1 (see FIG. 17) (e.g., duringradiation 1740 or proximity sensing mode).

At block 1837, the radiation from the emitter is detected when inproximity sensing mode, by using a sensor of the proximity sensorportion that overlaps a light sensing portion of the combined sensor.Block 1837 may include detecting radiation 1374 (e.g., the reflection orrefraction of radiation 1370 reflected and/or refracted by object 1388)during the period between and T0 and T1 (see FIG. 17) by using sensor1352 of proximity sensing portion PP2 and overlapping light sensingportion PALS of sensor 1320 (see FIGS. 13 and 14). Specifically,phototransistor 1452 (e.g., having filter 1356 and covering 1326 betweenradiation 1374 and sensor 1352) may be used to sense radiation fromemitter 1322 (e.g., radiation 1374).

At block 1839 radiation other than from the emitter is detected, when inlight sensing mode, by using the sensor of the proximity sensing portionthat overlaps the light sensing portion of the combined sensor. Forexample, block 1839 may include detecting radiation other than fromemitter 1322 (e.g., detecting radiation other than radiation 1374)during the period between T1 and T2 (e.g., during light sensing mode) byusing sensor 1352 (e.g., phototransistor 1452 having filter 1356 andcoating 1326 between ambient radiation 1372 and filter 1356) ofproximity sensing portion PP2 and overlapping light sensing portion PALS(as shown in FIGS. 13 and 14). For example, the light other than fromthe emitter may be ambient radiation 1372 and light sensing mode may bedescribed as a mode that is not or that is other than proximity sensingmode. Also, light sensing mode may be described as a period when emittedIR 1740 or radiation 1370 is not emitted. Thus, it can be appreciatedthat the same phototransistor or sensor (e.g., phototransistor 1452 orsensor 1352) can be used by combined sensor 1320 to sense proximity aswell as ambient light, such as by switching between or intermittentlyswitching between proximity sensing mode (e.g., when emitter is emittingIR according to modulating frequency F_(EM)) and light sensing mode(e.g., such as when emitter 1322 is not emitting IR according tomodulating frequency F_(EM)).

Moreover, it can be appreciated that although sensor 1352 has filter1356 to band pass only IR radiation to the sensor, in alternateembodiments the concepts described for process 1800 may also apply tousing sensor 1350 to sense both proximity and ambient light. Forexample, the output of sensor 1350 can be used at block 1837 to detectIR radiation from the emitter, and at block 1839 to detect radiationother than from the emitter, such as to detect IR radiation and visuallight radiation during both modes. In this embodiment, sensor 1350 ispart of portion PP2 and sensor 1352 is not. Thus, in this embodiment, atblock 1837, the sensor of the portions may detect the radiation from theemitter but not detect (e.g., such as by subtracting or filtering out)ambient light radiation. Alternatively, at block 1839, the sensor of theportions may detect ambient light radiation but not detect (e.g., suchas by not receiving because the emitter is not emitting or turned on, bysubtracting out, or by filtering out) the emitter radiation.

In addition, according to embodiments, descriptions herein with respectto portable devices (e.g., see FIGS. 1-6), proximity, light levels(e.g., ambient light), generating detection of proximity and/or lightlevels (e.g., see FIGS. 7A-7D), using artificial intelligence (AI) logicon inputs from sensors to take actions (e.g., see FIG. 8), determininguser activities based on input receive from sensors (e.g., see FIG. 9),automated responses to user activity based on input receive from sensors(e.g., see FIG. 10-11F), and digital processing systems for sensors(e.g., see FIG. 12) apply to combined sensor 1320, portions, components,logic, emitters and sensors thereof. Moreover, according to embodiments,descriptions herein with respect to placement and location of sensors;use of sensor data and determinations; and multiple sensors also applyto combined sensor 1320. For example, a combined sensor can be used atlocations identified herein for a proximity and/or light level sensor,such as to substitute one combined sensor to take the place of twosensors (e.g, one proximity sensor and one light level sensor). Thus,each such substitution requires the reduced space, power, processing,and openings in the surface of the portable device of one combinedsensor, as compared to the two sensors.

It will be appreciated that at least some of the sensors which are usedwith embodiments of the inventions may determine or provide data whichrepresents an analog value. In other words, the data represents a valuewhich can be any one of a set of possible values which can varycontinuously or substantially continuously, rather than being discretevalues which have quantum, discrete jumps from one value to the nextvalue. Further, the value represented by the data may not bepredetermined. For example, in the case of a distance measured by aproximity sensor, the distance is not predetermined, unlike values ofkeys on a keypad which represent a predetermined value. For example, aproximity sensor may determine or provide data that represents adistance which can vary continuously or nearly continuously in an analogfashion; in the case of such a proximity sensor, the distance maycorrespond to the intensity of reflected light which originated from theemitter of the proximity sensor. A temperature sensor may determine orprovide data that represents a temperature, which is an analog value. Alight sensor, such as an ambient light sensor, may determine or providedata that represents a light intensity which is an analog value. Amotion sensor, such as an accelerometer, may determine or provide datawhich represents a measurement of motion (e.g. velocity or accelerationor both). A gyroscope may determine or provide data which represents ameasurement of orientation (e.g. amount of pitch or yaw or roll). Asound sensor may determine or provide data which represents ameasurement of sound intensity. For other types of sensors, the datadetermined or provided by the sensor may represent an analog value.

FIG. 8 shows a diagram of various inputs from sensors that can be usedand actions that can be performed in accordance with at least oneembodiment of the invention. Any one of the devices described herein,including the devices shown in FIGS. 2, 3, 4, 5A and 5B, may operate inaccordance with the use of artificial intelligence as represented byFIG. 8. One or more inputs on the left side of FIG. 8 are received fromvarious sensors of a device and are input into the artificialintelligence (AI) logic. One or more actions on the right side of FIG. 8may be implemented by the AI logic automatically in response to anycombination of the inputs. In one implementation of this embodiment, theactions are implemented substantially immediately after the data issensed by one or more sensors.

Exemplary inputs of FIG. 8 may include, for example, proximity data,proximity data and blob detect data (e.g., from a multipoint touch inputscreen), proximity data and accelerometer data, accelerometer data andblob detect data, proximity data and temperature data, proximity dataand ambient light data, and numerous other possible combinations.

Exemplary actions of FIG. 8 may include, for example, turning off thebacklight of the portable device's display, suppressing the user'sability to input at the user interface (e.g., locking the input device),changing the telephone's mode, and the like. It will be appreciated thatcombinations of the above actions may also be implemented by the AIlogic. For example, the AI logic may both turn off the display'sbacklight and suppress the user's ability to input at the userinterface. As another example, the proximity data from a proximitysensor may be used to adjust the frequency response of the output of areceiver's amplifier section. This adjustment would allow the amplifiersection to compensate for the variation of frequency response whichoccurs as a result of the variation of the distance between a speakerand a user's ear. This variation is caused by the variation of signalleakage introduced by a varying distance between the speaker and theuser's ear. For example, when the ear is close (in close proximity) tothe speaker, then the leak is low and the base response is better thanwhen the ear is not as close to the speaker. When the speaker is fartherremoved from the ear, the degraded base response may be improved, in atleast certain embodiments, by an equalizer which adjusts the baserelative to the rest of the output signal in response to the distance,measured by the proximity sensor, between the user's ear and the speakerwhich provides the final output signal.

AI logic of FIG. 8 performs an AI (artificial intelligence) process. Incertain embodiments, the AI process may be performed without a specific,intentional user input or without user inputs having predetermined dataassociated therewith (e.g., key inputs). The artificial intelligenceprocess performed by the AI logic of FIG. 8 may use a variety oftraditional AI logic processing, including pattern recognition and/orinterpretation of data. For example, the AI logic may receive data fromone or more sensors and compare the data to one or more threshold valuesand, based on those comparisons, determine how to interpret the data. Inone embodiment, a threshold value may represent a distance which iscompared to a value derived from a light intensity measurement in aproximity sensor. A light intensity measurement which represents adistance larger than the threshold value indicates that the object(which reflected the emitter's light) is not near, and a light intensitymeasurement which represents a distance smaller than the threshold valueindicates that the object is near. Further, the input data may besubject to at least two interpretations (e.g. the data from a proximitysensor indicates that the user's head is near to the sensor, so turn offthe back light, or the data from the proximity sensor indicates theuser's head is not near, so leave the backlight under the control of adisplay timer), and the AI process attempts to select from the at leasttwo interpretations to pick an interpretation that predicts a useractivity. In response to the interpretation (e.g. the selection of oneinterpretation), the AI logic causes an action to be performed asindicated in FIG. 8, wherein the action may modify one or more settingsof the device. In at least certain embodiments, the AI logic may performan AI process which interprets the data from one or more sensors (whichinterpretation requires the AI process to select between at least twopossible interpretations) and which selects an action (e.g. modifying asetting of the device) based on both the interpretation of the sensordata and the current state of the device; the method shown in FIG. 11Ais an example of the use of information about the current state of thedevice (e.g. whether the user is currently communicating through thetelephone in the device) along with an interpretation of sensor data(proximity data in the case of FIG. 11A).

In certain embodiments, the AI process may perform traditional methodsof pattern recognition on the sensor data. For example, the rate ofchange of the distance between the device and the user's ear may have apattern (e.g. revealing a deceleration as the user moves the devicecloser to their ear), and this pattern in the rate of change of distancemay be detected by a pattern matching algorithm. The phrase “artificialintelligence” is used throughout to mean that a conclusion (whetherexplicit or implicit) can be drawn from data available from one or moresensors about a mode of usage by the user of the device. This conclusionmay or my not be expressed in the device (e.g., “the user is talking onthe phone”) but it will be mapped to specific actions or settings forthe device that would be appropriate if the user was using the device inthat way. For example, a telephone may be pre-programmed such thatwhenever it detects (1) a voice being spoken into the microphone, (2)that the phone is connected to a network, and (3) the proximity sensoris active, then the screen backlight will be dimmed. Suchpre-programming may involve simple logic (e.g. simple combinatoriallogic), but would nonetheless be within the scope of artificialintelligence as used herein. While learning, statistical analysis,iteration, and other complex aspects of AI can be used with the presentinvention, they are not required for the basic artificial intelligencecontemplated. Likewise, the word “analyze” does not imply sophisticatedstatistical or other analysis, but may involve observation of only asingle threshold or datum.

The AI processing, in at least certain embodiments, may be performed bya processor or processing system, such as digital processing system 103,which is coupled to the one or more sensors that provide the data whichform the inputs to the AI process. It will be appreciated that an AIprocess may be part of one or more of the methods shown in FIGS. 10 and11A-11F.

In at least certain embodiments, the device, which operates according toany of those methods, may have at least one input device (e.g. a keypador keyboard or touch input panel) which is designed to receiveintentional user inputs (e.g. which specify a specific user entry) inaddition to one or more sensors which are distinct and separate from theat least one input device and which sensors are not designed to receiveintentional user inputs. In fact, a user may not even be aware of thepresence of the one or more sensors on the device.

FIGS. 9A-C illustrate exemplary user activities that can be determinedbased on input data acquired by the one or more sensors of the portabledevice. Exemplary user activities include, but are not limited to, theuser looking directly at the portable device (FIG. 9A), the user holdingthe portable device at or near their ear (FIG. 9B), the user putting theportable device in a pocket or purse (FIG. 9C), and the like.

Additional information about user activities and/or gestures that can bemonitored in accordance with embodiments of the present invention aredisclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/903,964, titled“GESTURES FOR TOUCH SENSITIVE INPUT DEVICES,” filed Jul. 30, 2004, U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/038,590, titled “MODE-BASED GRAPHICALUSER INTERFACES FOR TOUCH SENSITIVE INPUT DEVICES,” filed Jan. 18, 2005,all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a method 200 for automaticallyresponding to certain user activities with respect to a portable device.In one embodiment, method 200 includes, but is not limited to, gatheringsensor data designed to indicate user activity with respect to aportable device, and executing machine-executable code to perform one ormore predetermined automated actions in response to the detection of theuser activity.

The method 200 may be performed by any one of the devices shown in FIGS.2, 3, 4, 5A, 5B, 6 and 12 and may or may not use the artificialintelligence process shown in FIG. 8. Operation 202 gathers sensor data,from one or more sensors; the sensor data provides information aboutuser activity. For example, a proximity sensor may indicate whether thedevice is near the user's ear; a temperature sensor, an ambient lightsensor (or a differential ambient light sensor) and a proximity sensormay together indicate that the device is in the user's pocket; agyroscope and a proximity sensor may together indicate that the user islooking at the device. In operation 204, the data from the one or moresensors is analyzed; this analysis may be performed by one or moreprocessors within the device, including a processor within one or moreof the sensors. The analysis attempts to predict user activity based onthe sensor data. It will be appreciated that a prediction from thisanalysis may, in some cases, be wrong. For example, if a user places afinger over a proximity sensor when the user holds the device, this maycause the analysis to incorrectly conclude that the device is near theuser's head or ear. In operation 206, one or more device settings may beadjusted based upon, at least in part, the analysis of the data from theone or more sensors. This adjusting may include changing an illuminationsetting of the device or other actions described herein.

FIGS. 11A-F illustrate exemplary methods for sensing data andautomatically responding to the sensed data, and these methods may beperformed by any one of the devices shown in FIGS. 2, 3, 4, 5A, 5B, 6and 12 and may or may not use the artificial intelligence process shownin FIG. 8. It will be appreciated that several variations can be made tothe illustrated methods, including variations to the data sensed,analysis of the data and the response(s) to the sensed data.

The method of FIG. 11A includes optional operation 220 in which thedevice determines if the user is communicating through the telephonewithin the device. This may be performed by conventional techniquesknown in the art which can sense when a telephone call is in progress orwhen the user is otherwise communicating through the telephone or othercommunication device. In operation 222, proximity sensor data isreceived from one or more proximity sensors on the device. Then inoperation 224, the proximity sensor data is analyzed. For example, thedata is analyzed to determine whether an object, such as the user's earor head, is near the device. This analysis is used to decide whether andhow to adjust the device's settings as shown in operation 226. One ormore settings of the device may be automatically adjusted based on theanalysis of the proximity sensor data and optionally based on whether ornot the user is communicating through the telephone or othercommunication device. For example, if the proximity sensor indicatesthat the device is near the user's head or ear and it has beendetermined that the user is communicating through the telephone, thenthe device determines that the user is talking or otherwisecommunicating on the telephone or other communication device by havingthe device next to the user's ear as shown in FIG. 9B. In thissituation, the device automatically changes the manner in which datafrom one or more input devices is processed, such as suppressing auser's ability to make intentional inputs on an input device, such as akeypad or a touch input panel on the device. In addition to suppressingintentional inputs, the device may automatically adjust a power settingof one or more displays of the device. If, on the other hand, the devicedetermines that the user is not communicating though the telephone whilethe proximity sensor data indicates that an object is near to thedevice, the device may decide not to modify an illumination setting ofthe display and to not suppress the user's ability to enter intentionaluser inputs on an input device. The suppressing of inputs may occur inone of a variety of ways. for example, inputs may be suppressed byturning off or reducing power to the input device such that it is notoperational while in this mode; in another example, inputs may besuppressed while in this mode by not processing any inputs which arereceived by a fully powered input device; in yet another example, inputsare not processed as intentional inputs but are processed to confirmthey are “blobs” resulting from touches or near touches on the inputdevice. In the last example, even though an input appears to be anactivation of a key (the “3” button on a keypad) or other user interfaceitem, the input is not processed as an activation of that key but ratheris processed to determine whether it is a “blob.”

FIG. 11B shows a method of an embodiment of the present inventions whichrelates to a technique for controlling when data from an input device isprocessed as an input and when it is ignored as an intentional userinput. In operation 230, the device receives movement data from one ormore sensors. These sensors may include an accelerometer or a motionsensor or other types of sensors which indicate movement data. Thesesensors may be designed to distinguish between rapid movements and slowmovements. This is particularly true if the movements involve highlevels of acceleration. It is assumed in this embodiment that rapidmovements may be so rapid that it is unlikely the user could beintending to enter a user input and hence the device may decide toignore inputs which occur when such sensors indicate that the movementis faster than a threshold movement value. The movement data is analyzedin operation 232 to determine whether or not to automatically suppress auser's ability to input key inputs or other inputs based on the device'smovement. In operation 234, the device may automatically suppress auser's ability to enter inputs on an input device in response to theanalysis in operation 232.

FIG. 11C relates to an embodiment of the present inventions in whichdata relating to a location of the device and data relating to movementof the device are analyzed to determine whether or not to adjust one ormore settings of the device. In operation 260, data relating to thelocation of the device is received; this data may, for example, beprovided by a proximity sensor. In operation 262, data relating todevice movement is also received. This data may be from a motion sensoror from an accelerometer. In operation 264, the data relating tolocation and the data relating to device movement are analyzed todetermine whether or not to adjust a setting of the device. Thisanalysis may be performed in a variety of different ways. For example,the data relating to device motion may show a pattern of movement whichmatches the movement which occurs when a user moves the device from theuser's pocket to the user's head. The analysis may further determinethat the proximity data or other data relating to location showed thatthe device was not near the user's head or another object until near theend of the movement. In such a situation, the analysis would determinethat the user has pulled the device from their pocket and placed itagainst the user's ear. In operation 266, one or more settings of thedevice are adjusted automatically, without any intentional user input,based upon the analysis. For example, an adjustment may be made in themanner in which data from an input device, such as a touch input panel,is processed. For example, inputs to the input device are not processedas intentional user inputs, effectively suppressing the inputs. Inaddition, a display's illumination setting may be adjusted. For example,if the analysis of operation 264 determines the user has moved thedevice from a location away from the ear to a location close to the earthen, in one embodiment, an illumination setting may be adjusted and theuser's ability to enter intentional inputs into an input device may besuppressed.

FIG. 11D shows an embodiment of the present inventions in which datarelating to location and data relating to temperature is processedthrough an analysis to determine whether or not to adjust one or moredevice settings of the device. In operation 270, data relating tolocation, such as data from a proximity sensor, is received. Inoperation 272, data relating to temperature, such as temperature data ortemperature differential data, is received. In operation 274, the datarelating to location and the data relating to temperature are analyzedto determine whether to adjust one or more settings of the device. Inoperation 276, one or more device settings are adjusted in response tothe analysis of operation 274.

FIG. 11E shows an embodiment of the present inventions in which datarelating to location of a device and data relating to touches on a touchinput panel of the device are analyzed to determine whether to adjust asetting of the device. In this embodiment, data relating to location ofthe device is received in operation 290 and data relating to touches ona touch input panel is received in operation 292. The data relating tolocation may be from a proximity sensor. The data relating to touches ona touch input panel may be from a multi-point touch input panel which iscapable of detecting multiple point touches which may occur when auser's face is pressed against or is otherwise near the touch inputpanel. In operation 294, the data relating to location and the datarelating to touches are analyzed to determine whether to adjust asetting of the device. As a result of this analysis, in operation 296,one or more device settings are adjusted. For example, the adjustmentmay include automatically reducing power to the backlight of a displayor changing the manner in which data from the touch input panel isprocessed, or both adjustments.

A mode of the device may be used in order to determine whether to or howto adjust a setting of the device. The mode of the device may includeany one of a variety of modes or conditions, such as speakerphone modeor non-speakerphone mode, battery powered mode or not battery poweredmode, call waiting mode or not call waiting mode, an alert mode in whichthe device may make a sound, such as the sound of an alarm, etc. Thedata relating to user activity (e.g. data from one or more sensors, suchas a proximity sensor and/or a touch input panel, which is capable ofdetecting blobs from a face) is analyzed relative to the mode of thedevice and the analysis attempts to determine whether to adjust asetting of the device. One or more device settings may be adjusted basedon the sensed user activity and the device-mode. For example, the devicemay automatically switch from speakerphone mode to non-speakerphone modewhen proximity data, and optionally other data (e.g. data from a motionsensor and an ambient light sensor) indicate the user has placed thedevice, which in this case may be a telephone, next to the user's ear.In this example, the device has automatically switched from speakerphonemode to non-speakerphone mode without any intentional input from theuser which indicates that the switch should occur. Another methodinvolves adjusting an alert or alarm volume depending on whether or notthe device is near to the user's ear. In this example, if the datarelating to user activity indicates that the device is adjacent to theuser's ear and if the mode of the device is set such that alarms oralerts will cause the device to make a sound, then the device willautomatically change the volume level for an alert or an alarm from afirst level to a second level which is not as loud as the first level.

FIG. 11F shows an embodiment of the inventions in which data from adevice configuration detector, such as a hinge detector, is used todetermine how to process data from one or more sensors on the device. Inone embodiment, this method shown in FIG. 11F may be used with thedevice shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B (and the proximity sensor referred to inFIG. 11F may be proximity sensor 84 in FIG. 5A). In particular, a hingedetector which is coupled to the hinge 87 may detect whether the deviceis open as shown in FIG. 5A or closed as shown in FIG. 5B. Otherconfiguration detectors may indicate whether a slide out input device(e.g. a slide out keyboard) or other type of input device has beenpulled out (or swung out) or not from a portion of the device. Inoperation 320, the device determines whether data from a hinge detectorshows that the device is open. If the device is not open, then inoperation 322, data from a proximity sensor is ignored if the proximitysensor is disposed on an interior surface of the device. Optionally, thepower to the proximity sensor may be reduced by, for example, turningoff the proximity sensor when the device is in a closed state. If it isdetermined in operation 320 that the device is open, then in operation324, data from the proximity sensor is processed to determine whetherthe device is placed near an object, such as the user's ear. If it isdetermined from the processing of operation 324 that the device is notnear the user's ear, then a display timer, which controls the time thatthe display is illuminated, is allowed to continue to run in operation326. This display timer may be similar to a conventional display timerwhich begins counting down to a time out state in response to activatinga backlight of a display. The display timer counts down to a time outstate and, if no input resets the timer to its starting value while itcounts down, then the timer reaches its time out state and causes, inresponse to the time out state, the display's backlight to be poweredoff (or otherwise have its power consumption state reduced). If, inoperation 324, it is determined that the device is near the user's ear,then in operation 328, power to an illuminator of the display isreduced. This may be performed by setting the display timer's value to atime out state to thereby cause the display's illuminator to be poweredoff. It will be appreciated that the method of FIG. 11F may saveadditional battery life by reducing power to the illuminator of thedisplay before the display timer runs out.

It will be appreciated that a method which uses a display timer, such asthose known in the art, may be used in addition to at least certainembodiments of the inventions which adjust illumination settings. Forexample, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 11A, a display timer which hasbeen started may continue to count while the method shown in FIG. 11A isperformed. The display timer will count, while the method of FIG. 11A isbeing performed, until its time out state is reached and, upon doing so,the display timer may cause the illumination setting to be changedbefore the method of FIG. 11A is completed. In this case, theillumination setting is controlled by both the display timer and one ormore sensors of at least certain embodiments of the inventions whichcause an adjusting of illumination settings based upon the analysis ofdata from one or more sensors.

The phrase “proximity sensor” is used throughout to mean a sensor, suchas a capacitive, temperature, inductive, infrared or other variety ofsensor, which is capable of detecting whether an object is presentwithin a certain distance of the sensor. A primary object of thisdetecting may be the head of the user (or any other object that wouldpresent viewing of the display screen).

Any of the embodiments of the inventions may include one or more userinterface controls which allow a user to override a result caused by oneor more sensors. For example, a control, such as a button, may bepressed by the user to cause the display to return to full power after aproximity sensor has caused the display to enter a reduced powerconsumption state. In another example, the user interface control may bea sensor (or group of sensors), such as an accelerometer, which detectsa user interaction with the device (e.g. shaking the device), and theuser interaction has been set up to cause an overriding of a statecaused by one or more sensors.

Certain embodiments of the inventions may employ one or more lightsensors which provide data relating to light, which data is analyzed todetermine whether or not to adjust one or more settings of a device,such as wireless device 100. Ambient light level data may be provided byan ambient light sensor which indicates the level of light intensitysurrounding that sensor. Ambient light differential data may be obtainedfrom two or more ambient light sensors which are disposed at differentpositions on the device. For example, one ambient light sensor may be onone side of the device, and another ambient light sensor may be onanother side of the device. A different in the light intensity levelsmay be determined by comparing the data from these two ambient lightsensors on two different sides or surfaces of the device. There are avariety of possible uses of a light sensor. A light sensor may be usedwith a proximity sensor to determine when a device is placed in a pocketto cause the device to be set in vibrate mode only or vibrate mode withaudible ringing. In another example, in response to a light sensordetermining that the ambient light is very low, and optionally inresponse to a user having set the device to visibly light up to show anincoming call when the ambient light is very low, the device mayautomatically be put in a “light ring” mode when it is dark so thatinstead of an audible ring from the device, the display flashes visibly(e.g. by repeatedly turning on and off the backlight) to indicate anincoming call. Another exemplary use of a light sensor involves using itas an alarm indicating that a dark room (or environment) has becomebrighter (e.g. the sun has risen or a door to a darkened room is openedto let light into the room). A light sensor may also be used to cause adevice to automatically act as a source of light (e.g. as a flashlight,in effect) upon sensing a low ambient light level.

FIG. 12 shows another example of a device according to an embodiment ofthe inventions. This device may include a processor, such asmicroprocessor 402, and a memory 404, which are coupled to each otherthrough a bus 406. The device 400 may optionally include a cache 408which is coupled to the microprocessor 402. This device may alsooptionally include a display controller and display device 410 which iscoupled to the other components through the bus 406. One or moreinput/output controllers 412 are also coupled to the bus 406 to providean interface for input/output devices 414 and to provide an interfacefor one or more sensors 416 which are for sensing user activity. The bus406 may include one or more buses connected to each other throughvarious bridges, controllers, and/or adapters as is well known in theart. The input/output devices 414 may include a keypad or keyboard or acursor control device such as a touch input panel. Furthermore, theinput/output devices 414 may include a network interface which is eitherfor a wired network or a wireless network (e.g. an RF transceiver). Thesensors 416 may be any one of the sensors described herein including,for example, a proximity sensor or an ambient light sensor. In at leastcertain implementations of the device 400, the microprocessor 402 mayreceive data from one or more sensors 416 and may perform the analysisof that data in the manner described herein. For example, the data maybe analyzed through an artificial intelligence process or in the otherways described herein. As a result of that analysis, the microprocessor402 may then automatically cause an adjustment in one or more settingsof the device.

In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described withreference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will be evidentthat various modifications may be made thereto without departing fromthe broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in thefollowing claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to beregarded in an illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense.

1. An apparatus to sense proximity and to sense light, the apparatuscomprising: an emitter of electromagnetic radiation; a detector ofelectromagnetic radiation, the detector having a sensor configured todetect electromagnetic radiation from the emitter when the apparatus issensing proximity and configured to detect electromagnetic radiationfrom a source other than the emitter when the apparatus is sensinglight, wherein the emitter is configured to emit IR light modulated witha first waveform at a first frequency, and further comprising:processing logic to distinguish between IR light modulated with thefirst waveform or at the first frequency and ambient IR light when theapparatus is sensing proximity.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 furthercomprising: processing logic coupled to the emitter and to the sensor,the process logic configured to subtract the radiation from the sourceother than the emitter when the apparatus is sensing proximity.
 3. Theapparatus of claim 1 wherein the processing logic to distinguishcomprises processing logic to one of time division multiplex, timeslicemultiplex, frequency filter, and passband filter between IR lightmodulated by the first waveform or at the first frequency and ambient IRlight when the apparatus is sensing proximity.
 4. The apparatus of claim1 further comprising: processing logic coupled to the emitter and to thedetector, the processing logic configured to turn off the radiation fromthe emitter when the apparatus is sensing light.
 5. The apparatus ofclaim 4 wherein the sensor is a first sensor having a first bandpassfilter that only passes infra-red (IR) light, the detector furthercomprising: a second sensor having a second passband filter that onlypasses both IR light and visible light.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5wherein the second passband filter is a cover over the first sensor andthe second sensor, and further comprising: processing logic to scale andsubtract ambient IR light detected by the first sensor from ambientvisible light and ambient IR light detected by the second detector whenthe apparatus is sensing light.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein theelectromagnetic radiation from a source other than the emitter comprisesan ambient IR light level and comprises ambient light levels atwavelengths other than IR.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1, furthercomprising a mechanical shutter or electrical shutter placed over theemitter to disable the emitter.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1, furthercomprising a power source coupled to the emitter, and a switch todisconnect the power source from the emitter to disable the emitter. 10.An apparatus to sense proximity and to sense light, the apparatuscomprising: an emitter of electromagnetic radiation; a detector ofelectromagnetic radiation, the detector having a first sensor configuredto detect electromagnetic radiation from the emitter when the apparatusis sensing proximity, the detector having a second sensor configured todetect electromagnetic radiation from a source other than the emitterwhen the apparatus is sensing light.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10further comprising: processing logic coupled to the emitter and to thedetector, the process logic configured to subtract the radiation fromthe source other than the emitter when the apparatus is sensingproximity, the processing logic configured to one of subtract, turn off,and cover the radiation from the emitter when the apparatus is sensinglight.
 12. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the emitter is configuredto emit IR light modulated with a first waveform at a first frequency,and wherein the first sensor includes one of a processor, processinglogic, a frequency filter, a waveform filter, and a time divisionmultiplexer to distinguish between IR light having the first waveform orat the first frequency and ambient IR light having a different secondwaveform and at a different second frequency.
 13. The apparatus of claim10 wherein the emitter is configured to emit modulated IR light, whereinthe first sensor comprises a first filter having a passband that onlypasses infra-red (IR) light, and wherein the first sensor comprises awaveform generator and a multiplexer configured to time-slice andmultiplex between sensing the ambient IR light and the modulated emittedIR light.
 14. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the first sensor isconfigured to detect light having one of a modulation frequency of amodulated light signal emitted by the emitter and a waveform of themodulated light signal emitted by the emitter.
 15. An apparatus to senseproximity and to detect light, the apparatus comprising: an emitter ofelectromagnetic radiation; a detector of electromagnetic radiation, thedetector being configured to detect electromagnetic radiation from theemitter when the apparatus is configured to sense proximity, wherein thedetector is configured to detect electromagnetic radiation from a sourceother than the emitter when the apparatus is configured to sense light,and wherein the detector comprises a first sensor having a firstbandpass filter that only passes infra-red (IR) light, the detectorfurther comprising: a second sensor having a second passband filter thatpasses both IR light and visible light; a fence disposed between theemitter and the detector configured to remove electromagnetic radiationemitted by the emitter.
 16. The apparatus of claim 15 furthercomprising: a covering over the emitter and detector; and wherein thefence between the emitter and the detector is configured to prohibitelectromagnetic radiation from the emitter that is refracted by thecovering from entering the detector.
 17. The apparatus of claim 15wherein the covering comprises an anti-glare covering or hardcoat on theoutside of the apparatus having refractive properties to cause IR fromthe emitter to reflect back into the detector, and wherein the fencecomprises a non-IR transmissive material configured to prohibit IR lightemitted by the emitter and refracted by the cover from reaching thedetector.
 18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the fence extends from asurface the emitter is mounted on to touch the covering.
 19. A method ofoperating a combined sensor to sense proximity and ambient light, themethod comprising: emitting light from an emitter of the combined sensorwhen in a proximity mode; detecting light from the emitter, thedetecting being performed by a sensor of the combined sensor, and thesensor being configured to detect light from the emitter to determine aproximity when in the proximity mode; sensing ambient light at thesensor while disabling the emitter from emitting light when in anambient light sensing (ALS) mode.
 20. The method as in claim 19 whereinthe sensor comprises: a phototransistor; an IR light passband filtercovering the phototransistor; and an IR light and visible light passbandfilter covering the IR light passband filter.
 21. The method as in claim19 wherein the sensor provides as an output both proximity data andambient light data and wherein the light from the emitter is an infraredband of wavelengths.
 22. The method as in claim 21 wherein the emitteremits light in a predetermined pattern and the detector is coupled to aprocessor which is configured to detect the predetermined pattern in anoutput from the detector.
 23. The method as in claim 22 furthercomprising: comparing at least one of the proximity data and the ambientlight data to at least one threshold value.
 24. The method of claim 19,wherein sensing ambient light at the detector while disabling theemitter comprises a sensing an ambient IR light level of ambient lightthat comprises ambient light levels at wavelengths other than IR. 25.The method of claim 19, further comprising placing a mechanical shutteror electrical shutter over the emitter to disable the emitter.
 26. Themethod of claim 19, further comprising disconnecting a power sourcecoupled to the emitter to disable the emitter.
 27. A method of operatinga combined sensor to sense proximity and ambient light, the methodcomprising: emitting light from an emitter of the combined sensor;detecting light from the emitter, the detecting being performed by asensor, wherein the sensor is a first sensor having a first bandpassfilter that only passes infra-red (IR) light, the detector furthercomprising: a second sensor having a second passband filter that passesboth IR light and visible light; removing electromagnetic radiationemitted by the emitter using a fence disposed between the emitter andthe sensor.
 28. The method as in claim 27 further comprising: coveringthe emitter with an IR light refractive cover; and prohibiting the IRlight emitted by the emitter that is refracted by the cover fromentering the sensor.
 29. A method of operating a data processing system,the method comprising: emitting light from an emitter of a proximitysensor portion of a combined sensor; detecting light from the emitter,the detecting being performed in a sensor of the proximity portion andof an overlapping ambient light sensor (ALS) portion of the combinedsensor, and the sensor being configured, when sensing proximity, todetect light from the emitter; sensing ambient light at the sensor whiledisabling the emitter from emitting light; processing proximity data andambient light data from the sensor to determine whether to modify asetting of the data processing system.
 30. The method as in claim 29further comprising: switching the combined sensor between a proximitymode and an ALS mode; emitting modulated light from the emitter when inthe proximity mode; detecting at a first phototransistor, ambient IRlight and modulated light from the emitter reflected by an object whenin the proximity mode; prohibiting emission of modulated light from theemitter when in the ALS mode; detecting at the first phototransistor,ambient IR light when in the ALS mode; detecting at a secondphototransistor, ambient IR light and ambient visible light when in theALS mode.
 31. The method as in claim 30 further comprising:distinguishing the reflected modulated light from the ambient IR lightwhen in the proximity mode; determining a proximity of the object fromthe distinguished reflected modulated light when in the proximity mode;scaling the ambient IR light detecting at the first phototransistor tohave an intensity equal to an intensity of the ambient IR light detectedat the second phototransistor when in the ALS mode; subtracting thescaled ambient IR light from the ambient IR light and ambient visiblelight detected at the second phototransistor to determine a detectedvisible light when in the ALS mode; determining a visible lightintensity from the visible light detected when in the ALS mode.
 32. Themethod as in claim 31 wherein determining a proximity comprisescomparing the distinguished reflected modulated light to a firstthreshold value, and wherein determining the visible light intensitycomprises comparing the visible light detected to a second thresholdvalue.
 33. The method as in claim 32 further comprising: decreasing asetting of a display illuminator if the distinguished reflectedmodulated light is greater than the first threshold value; decreasing asetting of a display illuminator if the visible light detected is lessthan the second threshold value.
 34. The method of claim 29, wherein asensing ambient light at the detector while disabling the emittercomprises sensing an ambient IR light level of ambient light thatcomprises ambient light levels at wavelengths other than IR.
 35. Themethod of claim 29, further comprising placing a mechanical shutter orelectrical shutter over the emitter to disable the emitter.
 36. Themethod of claim 29, further comprising disconnecting a power sourcecoupled to the emitter to disable the emitter.
 37. A machine readablemedium containing executable program instructions which when executedcause a method of operating a data processing system, the methodcomprising: emitting light from an emitter of a proximity sensor portionof a combined sensor; detecting light from the emitter, the detectingbeing performed in a sensor of the proximity portion and of anoverlapping ambient light sensor (ALS) portion of the combined sensor,and the sensor being configured, when sensing proximity, to detect lightfrom the emitter; sensing ambient light at the sensor while disablingthe emitter from emitting light; processing proximity data and ambientlight data from the sensor to determine whether to modify a setting ofthe data processing system.
 38. The medium of claim 37, the methodfurther comprising: switching the combined sensor between a proximitymode and an ALS mode; emitting modulated light from the emitter when inthe proximity mode; detecting at a first phototransistor, ambient IRlight and modulated light from the emitter reflected by an object whenin the proximity mode; prohibiting emission of modulated light from theemitter when in the ALS mode; detecting at the first phototransistor,ambient IR light when in the ALS mode; detecting at a secondphototransistor, ambient IR light and ambient visible light when in theALS mode.
 39. The medium of claim 38, the method further comprising:distinguishing the reflected modulated light from the ambient IR lightwhen in the proximity mode; determining a proximity of the object fromthe distinguished reflected modulated light when in the proximity mode;scaling the ambient IR light detecting at the first phototransistor tohave an intensity equal to an intensity of the ambient IR light detectedat the second phototransistor when in the ALS mode; subtracting thescaled ambient IR light from the ambient IR light and ambient visiblelight detected at the second phototransistor to determine a detectedvisible light when in the ALS mode; determining a visible lightintensity from the visible light detected when in the ALS mode.
 40. Themedium of claim 39, wherein determining a proximity comprises comparingthe distinguished reflected modulated light to a first threshold value,and wherein determining the visible light intensity comprises comparingthe visible light detected to a second threshold value.
 41. The mediumof claim 40, the method further comprising: decreasing a setting of adisplay illuminator if the distinguished reflected modulated light isgreater than the first threshold value; decreasing a setting of adisplay illuminator if the visible light detected is less than thesecond threshold value.
 42. The method of claim 37, wherein sensingambient light at the detector while disabling the emitter comprisessensing an ambient IR light level of ambient light that comprisesambient light levels at wavelengths other than IR.
 43. The method ofclaim 37, the method further comprising placing a mechanical shutter orelectrical shutter over the emitter to disable the emitter.
 44. Themethod of claim 37, the method further comprising disconnecting a powersource coupled to the emitter to disable the emitter.
 45. An apparatusto sense proximity and to sense light, the apparatus comprising: meansfor emitting IR light when in a proximity mode; means for detectingreflected IR light of the emitted IR light using a sensor of thecombined sensor to determine a proximity when in the proximity mode;means for sensing ambient light at the sensor while disabling theemitted IR light means when in an ambient light sensing (ALS) mode. 46.The apparatus of 45 wherein the sensor comprises: means for convertingphotons into an electrical signal; means for band passing only IR lightto the converting means; and means for band passing only IR light andvisible light to the band passing only IR light means.
 47. The apparatusof 45 wherein the sensor comprises: means for providing as an outputboth proximity data and ambient light data.
 48. The apparatus of 47wherein the emitting IR light means comprises means for emitting apredetermined pattern of IR light pulses, and the detecting reflected IRlight means comprises means for detecting the predetermined pattern. 49.The apparatus of 48 further comprising: means for comparing at least oneof the proximity data and the ambient light data to at least onethreshold value.
 50. An apparatus to sense proximity and to sense light,the apparatus comprising: means for emitting IR light, the emitted IRlight passing through a cover; means for detecting reflected IR light ofthe emitted IR light incident upon the cover using a sensor below thecover, wherein the sensor is a first sensor having a first bandpassfilter that only passes infra-red (IR) light, the detector furthercomprising: a second sensor having a second passband filter that passesboth IR light and visible light; means for removing the emitted IR lightfrom reaching the sensor, prior to the emitted IR light passing throughthe cover.
 51. The apparatus of 50 wherein the cover comprises means forrefracting the emitted IR light passing through a cover, and furthercomprising: means for prohibiting the IR light emitted by the emitterthat is refracted by the cover from entering the sensor.
 52. An combinedproximity and ambient light sensor comprising: a proximity sensorportion including an IR light transmitter to emit IR light and an IRlight sensor to detect IR light from the transmitter; ambient lightsensor (ALS) portion including the IR light sensor and an IR light andvisual light sensor to sense ambient light while disabling the IR lighttransmitter.
 53. The sensor of claim 52 further comprising: processinglogic to process proximity data and ambient light data from the IR lightsensor to determine whether to modify a setting of a data processingsystem.
 54. The sensor of claim 53 further comprising: a firstcomparator to compare to compare the IR light in the predeterminedpattern with a first threshold; and a subtractor to subtract the ambientIR light from ambient IR light and ambient visible light detected by asecond sensor of the ALS portion.
 55. The sensor of claim 52 wherein theIR light transmitter emits IR light in a predetermined pattern, and theIR light sensor detects the IR light in the predetermined pattern duringa first period of time and ambient IR light not in the predeterminedpattern during a second period of time.
 56. The sensor of claim 52,wherein the IR light and visual light sensor senses an ambient IR lightlevel of ambient light that comprises ambient light levels atwavelengths other than IR.
 57. The sensor of claim 52, furthercomprising a mechanical shutter or electrical shutter placed over theemitter to disable the emitter.
 58. The sensor of claim 52, furthercomprising a power source coupled to the emitter, and a switch todisconnect the power source from the emitter to disable the emitter. 59.A method of operating a combined sensor to sense proximity and ambientlight, the method comprising: using an infra-red (IR) light only sensorto sense a proximity of an object; using the IR light only sensor tosense an IR part of ambient light; subtracting the IR part of ambientlight from IR and visible ambient light sensed using an IR light andvisible light sensor.
 60. The method as in claim 59 further comprises:using the IR light and visible light sensor to sense the IR and visibleambient light.
 61. The method as in claim 59 wherein the proximity of anobject is sensed during a proximity mode and the IR part of ambientlight is sensed during an ambient light sensing (ALS) mode.
 62. Themethod as in claim 59 wherein using an infra-red (IR) light only sensorto sense a proximity of an object further comprises: using an IR lightemitter to emit emitted IR light; using the IR light only sensor tosense the emitted IR light reflected by the object.